A Forgotten Love
by LeftwardBard97
Summary: It's been centuries since Isabelle and Marcus last saw each other. She's spent that time traveling and using her powers to keep herself undetected from the rulers of the vampire world. What happens when she runs into the Cullens in Forks and events occur that force Isabelle to travel to Italy, one of the last places she wants to go? Will she find her true love?Will he remember her?
1. At First Sight

**** Hey guys! First off, I want to thank everyone who has kept up with the story and was reviewing and telling me to update even during my long absence. I just graduated from high school and will be starting on college in 2016, so I will have a lot of time between now and then to get all of my stories updated. Now, as a warning (if you are reading this), some of my stories will be completely different, both in plot and writing style. Five years is a long time for my writing style to develop and I can honestly say that I have no idea how everyone who read my stories actually liked them, as I hate them. But, to each their own! Anyway, here is the official disclaimer for my story: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT AS THAT RIGHTFULLY BELONGS TO STEPHANIE MEYER. I JUST MANIPULATE THE TWILIGHT UNIVERSE TO SUIT MY NEFARIOUS NEEDS! Without further ado, here is the new and improved first chapter of A Forgotten Love! Enjoy!****

 **Chapter 1: At First Sight**

Stepping out of a decent-sized manor, a young woman walked out into the bright sun, her simple blue dress dragging against the ground. Shielding her chocolate brown eyes as they adjusted to the light, the woman glanced around with a slight smile on her lips. She could see men and women of all ages walking along the fence that enclosed her home. When her eyes caught the figure of several couples, her smile turned wistful for a moment before her thoughts were interrupted by movements and sounds coming from inside the house behind her.

Turning, the young girl held back a small giggle as she saw her dog, Degon, being chased towards her with a much older woman right on his heels. The girl quickly fell to her knees to catch the medium-sized dog as he leaped towards her, her thin arms wrapping around his bulky frame. She couldn't hold back her second laugh as Marissa, the older woman and the girl's former nursemaid, caught up to the pair with a scowl on her lips.

"Isabelle Marie, you need to teach that thrice-damned dog some manners!" the older woman exclaimed. "This is the second time I have found a half-eaten hare in my unmentionables. Where he gets the bloody things, I haven't the faintest idea, but he needs to stop! At the very least, put it in the cook's unmentionables," she finished with a slight huff. Marissa glanced at Isabelle and, upon seeing the hidden mirth in her eyes, rolled her own in exasperation.

"It's the thought that counts, Marissa," Isabelle replied, rubbing Degon between the ears before standing up. "He means well." As if he understood what Isabelle was saying, Degon barked happily as his tail wagged back and forth quickly.

"Well, tell him I don't want it and not to do it again," Marissa replied, fighting a smile at the pair in front her.

Isabelle looked down at Degon. "You heard the lady, mister," she told him, her voice firm, though you could hear amusement underlining her tone. He whined and licked Marissa's hand several times, trying to butter up to her.

"Sometimes, I wonder why Isabelle keeps you around, you worthless fur-bag," Marissa said, shaking her head as she wiped her hand on her apron to get the drool off.

Degon whined once more, hanging his head as his tail tucked between his legs, causing Isabelle stared at him for a moment, thinking. "I believe you hurt his feelings," she said, glancing up. The other woman scoffed.

"I doubt it. He is just trying to be manipulative. At any rate, take him with you to the market. He'll just be in the way as we get ready for tonight," Marissa said, shaking her head once again. "And here; you forgot to grab it when passing through the kitchen," she added, handing Isabelle a wicker basket.

Isabelle took it, looping her arm through the hole, grinning as she did so. "Yes, _mother_ ," she said with a slight laugh. She kissed Marissa's cheek, avoiding the slap on the arm, before walking back out of the house. Whistling, she waited for Degon to realize he was to follow her and then walked out to the gate. She opened it, waiting for Degon to catch up, before she closed it and started to make her way to the market with her canine companion at her side.

IT wasn't long before Isabelle and Degon finally made it to the market, though it took slightly longer as it seemed everyone was making their way to the market today. She had nearly gotten run over a couple of times, by both large and impatient crowds, which was not a good combination, and careless carriages. Isabelle decided to just stand and wait on the side so that she wouldn't have to deal with the bustle and when it finally slowed down, they made their way to the market.

The first thing the pair did upon arriving was go to the well at the entrance that was specifically for pulling up a bucket and taking a cup of water to drink and/or to cool off with. The first one was always free per person, but anymore cost you a penny. As she had drunken most of the first cup and used the last of it to cool her face and the back of her neck, Isabelle had to pay for the second cup so that Degon could have some water as well. As she waited for him to finish lapping at the liquid, she thought about the reason why her mother, Anne, had asked her to go to the market for miscellaneous things.

Isabelle wasn't stupid nor was she blind. She knew the reason why Anne had wanted her out of the house. It was the day of her fifteenth year, which meant that she _had_ to finally allow suitors to start courting her. Normally, it started on a young lady's fourteenth year, which would then lead to two years of courting before being asked her hand in marriage on her sixteenth, but Isabelle had been able to convince her parents to postpone it. Isabelle didn't mind the idea of marriage and settling down to make a family, but she wanted to be able to live her life as she pleased, which was something most men did not want in a wife.

Anyway, on a girl's fourteenth birthday, there was to be a small ball that night and during the day, she would be hidden away until her arrival at the ball, which was traditionally held at her home. For what reason, Isabelle did not know, but she was thankful that her parents didn't follow tradition to the letter and let Isabelle be out of the house. It was just as well. Isabelle would rather be outside in the fresh air than stuck inside all day with essentially nothing to do.

Shaking her head, Isabelle realized that Degon was finished with the water and with what was left, she poured along his coat, rubbing it so that he could cool off, especially with the breeze. However, as she poured the last of the water on him, she heard him whine slightly as if he wasn't done with the cup.

"Oh hush you. I'll get you another cup, you spoiled rascal," she murmured, kissing his hose before starting to straighten. Unfortunately, as Isabelle was still bent down by Degon, someone hadn't realized that she was right there, because as she straightened, they backed up into her, making her stumble backwards herself. That alone wouldn't have been an issue, but since Degon was sitting right behind Isabelle when she stumbled, she tripped over him. She let out a small yelp as Degon barked and moved as she was falling. Reaching her hand out, Isabelle tried to grab the stone wall of the well, but as she gripped it, the stone gave away underneath her fingers. A look of horror slid onto her face as she fell backwards straight into what sounded like the direct path of a horse.

Isabelle knew she wouldn't be able to stop the horse in time, so she closed her eyes tightly and hoped that whatever damage was done wouldn't be too bad. Then suddenly, she felt her wrist being grabbed and yanked up, taking her body with it and straight into a very masculine chest. Her hands automatically grabbed the tunic as his arms wrapped around her waist so that their balance could regained before they both fell into the well. It took a few moments for Isabelle to register a voice through the harsh beating of her heart and the loud rushing of her blood. Once she registered the voice, she still didn't focus on it as her focus was now on the radiating heat she could feel through her thin dress. She knew that it was from the man holding her tight to his body. A body that she was still very close to and was still holding onto just as tightly.

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" she could hear being said. Isabelle finally looked up, blinking at the sun as she opened her eyes, which then promptly widened at the fine piece of male specimen she was holding onto.

The first thing she noticed was his eyes, which were a shining deep blue that reminded her of the ocean, and then everything else followed suit quickly after: wavy, dirty-blonde hair that ended at the beginning of his dark colored tunic, sun-kissed skin, full pink lips which were highlighted by the beginnings of laugh lines, which made him look relaxed even with the concerned look on his face, and a strong jawline that was framed by a day-or-two-old-stubble that looked to be light brown and made her mind create an image of her running her hand over it so she could see if it was as soft as it looked.

Blushing at the image her mind created, Isabelle looked down, which made her then realize that they were still holding onto each other and that their position looked like one she had seen lovers in. Isabelle blushed deeper as she forced her hands to let go of the tunic, nervously smoothing out the wrinkles she had made. She meant to take a step back so that she could try to calm her heart that was beating quickly for a completely different reason, but the wind shifted and blew his scent to her. Just that scent alone was good enough to make her knees weak and take a very small step forward.

He smelled like the forest, which was a very familiar smell to Isabelle as the forest was her haven, but he made it seem so much more… sensual. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear the indecent thoughts running through her mind, and then blushed once again, deeper this time, when she realized that he held a smirk on his lips, letting her know that he had caught her looking at him for a longer amount of time that was proper.

"Are you okay, Miss?" he asked once more, his voice husky and low and sent tingles down her spine. His arms were still wrapped around her and she had to push against his chest lightly, although regretfully, in order for him to loosen his grip so she could take a step back to gather her thoughts.

As she did, Isabelle took several deep breaths to calm her heart, her work ruined as she glanced up at the man, which caused her heart beat even faster. She ran her hands over her face, rubbing slightly, before it then registered, for whatever reason, that she was uninjured. She glanced around and saw the offending horse flicking its tail side to side as it trotted away. Though she couldn't fault the horse, but she could fault the rider, who hadn't even checked to make sure she was okay. Isabelle's dark eyes glared at the back of the rider, her angry thoughts being interrupted by a chuckle at her side.

"Miss?" he asked one last time, raising an eyebrow with an amused look in his eyes at her continued silence.

Isabelle flushed once more, this time in embarrassment. "My apologies, sir. I am well, thanks to your quickness," she said finally, biting her lip.

At her words, he winced slightly, making Isabelle tilt her head slightly in confusion. "You may not want to thank me yet, young miss, as I fear that I was the one who made you fall into the path of the horse," he replied softly.

Isabelle smiled slightly, knowing it took quite a bit for a man to admit that he was at fault for starting a situation. "If we were to put fault to anyone, it should be I, as I was the one on my knees," she said before thinking. She bit back a mortified yelp as she realized what she had said and the meanings that could be taken from her words. She prayed that the man hadn't caught the unintentional innuendo. She peeked up at him and flushed as she saw the smirk turn into a slight grin.

"Then it would seem to be your fault, miss," he said finally, making Isabelle's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "But then again, I could be at fault for not paying attention to my surroundings as a beautiful young woman such as you should never be overlooked."

Isabelle flushed once again, looking down at the dusty ground. Then she gathered her courage and looked back up at him, staring at him in the eye. "Then it would seem to be your fault, sir," she said, quoting his own words, which made him grin even further. "How are you going to fix the situation at hand?" she asked boldly, inwardly smirking at the surprise in his eyes at her counter.

"Well, young miss, I would first have your name so that I may be able to know who I so mistakenly overlooked," he replied, staring down at her.

Isabelle thought for a moment, both trying to figure out if she should give him her real name or not and to make him wait. "Marie," she said finally, going by her middle name. "You may call me Marie for now."

"Well, Lady Marie, I would humbly ask for your forgiveness, even going as far as to get on my knees," he said, repeating her own words and knowing the effect it would have on her. Right on cue, she flushed once more before forcing it back down.

"I think that before you get on your knees to beg for my forgiveness, you should give me your own name, kind sir, so that I may know who potentially saved my life," Isabelle murmured.

"Andres," he said in return, a small and secretive smile on his lips. _Hm… Andres… It's fitting, but it doesn't seem like it fits him completely._

"Judging by the look in your eyes and the smirk on your lips, I would wager a guess that Andres isn't what you are normally called by. You don't look like an Andres," Isabelle said, shifting her weight to her other leg as she raised an eyebrow.

Andres raised his own eyebrow. "Just as you do not look like a Marie, but to each their own," he countered. At that, Isabelle couldn't help but to let out a laugh.

"Touché," she said, grinning now. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Andres."

Andres tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Just as it is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Marie," he said, taking her hand and kissing the top of her knuckles, making a shiver go down her spine. Her eyes followed him as he straightened. "And please, just call me Andres."

Isabelle tilted her head forward in a slight bow. "Then, _Andres_ , in return, I insist you call me Marie. None of this 'Lady' business," she said in response. He nodded, smiling brightly. "Now as for my forgiveness, there is no need for you to get on your knees and beg. Just escorting me around the market as I father my purchases would be enough," she added, her grin turning into a slight smirk. "… For now…"

A smirk had slid back onto Andres' features at her words, though it faltered slightly at the 'for now', making him wonder what else she would have him do. "Very well, _Marie_ ," he said, taking a step back and bowing at the waist. "May I escort you around the market? A woman with beauty such as yours should not be walking alone," he said, straightening and offering her his arm.

Isabelle let out a small laugh as she looped her arm through his, her basket on her other arm. "You may. And I am not alone. I have a companion with me," she said, smiling.

"Oh? And who is this companion?" he asked, his voice taking on a teasing lilt, making her think that he thought she was talking about him.

"He is broad and muscular and has a dark coat on. His eyes are a dark blue, though in the sun, it can change to be lighter," she said, fighting to keep her voice even as she held back her laughter.

"Does this companion have a name?" Andres asked with the right touch of respectful politeness mixed with a good amount of amusement and expectation.

"He does," Isabelle said, her smile turning back into a laughing grin. "His name is Degon." Whatever response Andres had expected, though Isabelle knew it would have been his name he thought to hear, 'Degon' was not it.

"De… gon?" he asked, breaking up the word as if it were foreign on his tongue. He held a look of surprise and a lot of confusion.

"Yes," Isabelle said, giggling. She turned back towards the well, whistling. Degon, who had been merrily chasing after a couple of stray cats as well as a female dog, turned his head and trotted over to the pair. Isabelle rubbed his head as he came to a stop in front of them. "Andres, this is my faithful companion, Degon," she said, looking up at the man at her side.

The confusion cleared as the hound came to Isabelle's side, though the surprise was still there. It was steadily turning into amusement as he realized that he had been led on. "Degon, it is a pleasure to meet you," he said, holding out his hand so that the dog could sniff it. Isabelle watched on with an amused smile as Degon sniffed and then licked his hand. He didn't wipe it off like Isabelle thought he would, though he did rub Degon's head a lot, so maybe he wiped it off there.

"Shall we go, Andres?" Isabelle said with the smile still on her face.

"Yes, we shall," Andres replied, looking down at the girl on his arm and motioned to the market before them. "Lead the way."

 **** Whew… That took me a good hour or two to write and the ending was nearly completely different from what I had written out, though I like the way this turned out a lot better than the original. So what did you think? Was it better than what you thought it would be? Let me know if you have any suggestions! I will take my readers' opinions and use them to make my stories better! See ya next time!****


	2. Preparation

**I really am sorry for not updating any stories like I said, but I ended up having to deal with some RL issues and lost my drive for writing for awhile. I'm taking it slow right now and trying to get back into my stories. Thank you for everyone who has kept up with them, even though they haven't been updated in ages. Without further ado, here is chapter 2 of A Forgotten Love!**

 **Chapter 2: Preparation**

Browsing around the marketplace on Andres' arm, Isabelle gathered the necessary items she had come for, the basket she had with her eventually filling with various things. Her mother hadn't given her any specific items, just as long as it kept her out of the house. So, Isabelle decided to use the money given to her to buy items that she wanted for herself. A few new ribbons that matched her favorite dresses, a few bones for her companion, Degon, and a new book that looked promising.

As she and Andres walked along the dusty and trodden path, they spoke about meaningless things, staying from the topics of their personal lives. It felt like a game to Isabelle, like she was trying to make him work for knowledge of her life. However, it was a double edged sword, as Andres was playing her game and was doing the same thing to her. It grew slightly frustrating after a little while of their game as she really wanted to know more about the mysterious man.

The game was still amusing to her however, as she knew that if he was of importance, he would be at the ball that night and she would see him there, where he would find out more of who she was.

As the pair passed a small group of young women gathered around a stall, Isabelle caught the whispers of said ball. They were simply talking about what they were wearing and whether or not single men would be there for them to entice and Isabelle made a face at the information. It was a ball for suitors to be allowed to get the chance to court _her_ , not other women.

At the thought of suitors, Isabelle glanced up to Andres with a curious look in her eye. "Will you be attending the ball tonight, Andres?" she asked, not giving anything away in her voice. Her eyes flicked away, double checking that Degon was trotting along behind the couple.

A smile slid onto her face as she saw the dog and then turned back towards Andres as he started to speak.

"You mean the ball for young Lady Sparrow?" he asked, confirming with her that was what she was referencing. With a nod from her, he continued. "I imagine that if I didn't go, it would be an insult to Lord and Lady Sparrow. No doubt my brothers would be quite incensed if I did not go either."

At those words, Isabelle inwardly smirked. What he had told her gave her a little bit more information about the man she held the arm of. He had brothers, which narrowed down the families he could be from, and he, or at least his family, knew her own family intimately enough that they would be upset if he didn't show. That bit narrowed the search even further and she was content for the time being.

"And what do you think of the young Lady Sparrow?" Isabelle asked curiously, tilting her head to look up at him. Would he speak about her to her or would he back off on that front?

"Young Lady Sparrow? I haven't had any personal interaction with her, though I have caught glimpses of her from afar. Most of what I know of her is second hand and I prefer to learn about someone with my own experience instead of others. Thus, I cannot answer your question entirely, Marie," Andres replied, his blue eyes looking down at Isabelle.

Her smile widened a little bit more at his words. Glancing up at the sun, she blinked in surprise at its position. "My apologies, Andres, but I have to start my trek home. I'm supposed to help my mother with something once I returned. Thank you for the escort. It was much appreciated," she said quickly with a smile, needing to leave. She had lost track of time and at this rate, she would be late in getting ready for her ball.

As she slid her arm from Andres, he caught her hand right before they broke contact. "May I see you again, Marie?" he asked in earnest, the honesty in his eyes surprising her slightly and making her flush.

"Perhaps," Isabelle said coyly. "We'll see after tonight." With that, she tugged her hand out of his with a smirk and then turned, whistling for Degon to follow her. Without further ado, the young woman and her faithful four-legged companion exited the marketplace without a glance back.

Isabelle hurried home as fast as she could and once she arrived, gave her traveling cloak to the maid at the door with a quick thank you, and made her way upstairs to her room where a bath was waiting. It had been filled not too long ago, so the water was still fairly warm, which she appreciated as she undressed and got in, starting to scrub the dust off of her skin.

A knock sounded at her door and she yelled for them to come in, knowing that with the time, it was going to be her mother. Lo and behold, her mother glided into the room, a maid following after her as well. "Good afternoon, mother," Isabelle said with a smile as she wiped her arms with the wet rag. "Would you help with my hair, please? You do it much quicker than I," she asked and Shae, Isabelle's mother, nodded with a slightly exasperated smile.

"You were almost late, young lady," Shae stated, moving behind Isabelle and sitting on the stool. She started to gather the long brown hair and had Isabelle tilt her head back some so Shae could wet it and start to lather it up.

"I know, mother. I lost track of time," Isabelle replied, a blush staining her cheeks. At that, Shae paused in her ministrations and narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "Oh? And praytell, what caused you such distraction? Or should I ask whom?"

Isabelle groaned slightly. "Mother!" she complained, though the look in her eyes let Shae know that she wasn't truly upset. While the duo chatted about Isabelle's market trip and the man she met, the maid flitted around the room, gathering the items that Isabelle would need for the ball.

Once the two females were done washing, Isabelle quickly rinsed off what she could and stood in the tub with her mother's help. She wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out before placing a towel around her hair to try to sop up what water it could. Isabelle shivered slightly at the cooling breeze hit her heated skin and started to rub her body dry before Shae started to help rub lotion into her skin, making it soft and give the slight illusion of glowing.

After that was done, Isabelle slid her undergarments on and then her strapless chemise, tightening the strings under her bust and tying them off. The dress would be put on last, which she knew was strapless as well as true corset less. Corsets were something that Isabelle had mixed feelings about. She loved the look that it gave her, but she hated how it allowed her to barely breathe and sit comfortably. However, she and her mother had an agreement that Shae would allow Isabelle to not wear the corsets daily, but had to for important occasions or when Shae requested it. It was a deal Isabelle readily agreed to. Thankfully, Isabelle knew that the dress had a sort-of built in corset and wouldn't be as harsh as a regular one.

With the chemise in place, Isabelle sat at the mirror, taking her hair towel off and checking her strands. Most of the water had been soaked into the towel and what was left would help shape what she wanted done with her hair. Shae moved behind her and Isabelle gave her mother a smile before saying what she wanted done.

Shae thought for a moment and then nodded with a bright smile. "I know just the thing. Lucretia, make sure that her dress is ready and that all of the items we will need for her face is set out." The maid nodded and went to do that while Shae started to comb Isabelle's hair. Isabelle closed her eyes as her hair was messed with, the motions soothing her as well as the humming that her mother started. A smile appeared on her face as she recognized the song as one that her mother used to sing to her as a child.

A little while later, her mother told her to keep her eyes closed and stopped working with her hair. Isabelle thought she was done, but did as she asked. She heard a low murmur of voices and then the closing a door before Shae came back to her daughter. "I'm going to go ahead and start with the make up, darling. Keep your eyes closed," she said and Isabelle nodded with a smile, though she shifted for a moment, stretching her back before she settled back down.

Isabelle could hear the clicking of things being opened and being shut, the hums of her mother when she decided what she wanted to do, and the soft whisper of brushes sliding against powder. As the brush touched her eyelids, the color unknown to her, Isabelle refrained from moving as much as possible, not wanting to distract her mother. After a minute or two of the brushes against her eyes, a larger brush started flowing across her face softly, tickling her slightly. Isabelle couldn't help but to smile and giggle slightly as her nose twitched. A chuckle was heard from her mother and then she spoke.

"You have such wonderful features, my darling girl," she murmured softly. "You are going to make your husband a very happy man." A sniff came right after, clueing Isabelle in that her mother was starting to cry.

"Don't you dare, mother!" Isabelle warned. "You know that I always start to cry after you do." Another chuckle escaped her mother.

"Of course, Isabelle," she said before continuing with making her daughter look even more beautiful. As she finished, Isabelle heard the door open once more and then shut. "Thank you, Lucretia," Shae said. "Just set it on the bed for now."

A few minutes later, Shae set the brushes down and hummed softly. "You truly are stunning, Isabelle," she murmured before standing and grabbing what Lucretia brought in.

"Am I finished, mother?" Isabelle asked, starting to open her eyes.

"Not yet, my dear. Just one last finishing touch before we put your dress on. You will see the final result then," Shae replied quickly, not wanting her daughter to accidentally ruin the surprise. A smile slid on her face as she saw Isabelle's eyes close tightly, clearly getting more excited.

Isabelle couldn't help but to start to fidget with her fingers and the chemise, twisting parts of the fabric. She wanted to see what her mother came up with now! But she waited, knowing that it would be worth it. She started slightly when she felt a few tugs in her hair and her brow furrowed, but she stayed quiet, wondering what her mother was up to.

Another minute went by with the tugging still being felt before it stopped and hands gripped her own. She tilted her head up, eyes still closed, and, following the small tug, stood up. She gripped the hands, which she recognized as Lucretia's, for a moment as she regained her bearings before being lead elsewhere, presumably to her dress.

"Keep your eyes closed, Isabelle. Lucretia and I will direct you," Shae said to the right of the brown haired girl and Isabelle nodded. A rustle of fabric in front of her let her realize that the dress was about to be put on her and without prompting, her arms went up so that it could go over her. The dress was carefully maneuvered around her hair and face, trying to disturb it as little as possible. She kept her arms up after it made it past her breasts and let the two women settle it around the fabric of the chemise.

She only brought her arms down once it was mostly in place, though the back was still loose as it needed to be tightened like a corset. Hands held the top of the dress in place as Isabelle went ahead and situated her breasts so that they were more comfortable in the cups of the dress and then reached for the bedpost with Lucretia's help, knowing that she wouldn't be able to have the dress tightened without holding onto something to stabilize herself.

Feeling the wooden carvings, Isabelle shifted to a better position, Lucretia and Shae moving with her, and gripped the post. With a nod, the laces of the dress started to be tightened from the bottom. The first tightening was a general one so that the dress wouldn't immediately fall off of her frame. The second tightening would be the one where she really had to grip the post as that was where the corset part of the dress would make it fit to her body.

The person at her back, who was most likely her mother, started to tighten the laces, Isabelle letting her know when it was too tight or still too loose. It only took a few minutes for the dress to fit just right on her frame and when it was tied off, there was silence in the room.

Isabelle waited a minute before raising an eyebrow. "May I open my eyes now?" she asked with a slight smile and she heard her mother cough. "One last thing. Your shoes," she said and the dress lifted in the front. Thankful she still had her hand on the bedpost, she lifted a foot at a time and her shoes were slipped on. Straightening up, she felt like she was several inches taller, thanks to the heels, and she turned to her mother carefully, knowing that she was the one who had been doing the laces. "Now?"

"Now" was all her mother said before Isabelle opened her eyes and immediately caught her reflection. All she could do was stare in stunned silence. The dress was the first thing she noticed, a smile appearing on her painted lips as she took it in. The dress was strapless and with how the fabric laid, the top portion of the dress was laying on top of the bottom part, but coming into an upside down V at her hips. The top part was a dark purple and had white flowers stitched onto the bodice with white lacing similar to a corset going from underneath her breasts to a few inches above where the fabric gathered to start the V and was tied off, the excess falling down the front.

The bottom portion was lavender colored and had what seemed to be about five or so layers of subtle ruffles, but it didn't start until halfway down the bottom part. The ruffles came up in the front of the dress, showing the layers, but as it went to the back of the dress, all of the ruffles were the same length. Turning so she could see the back, the ruffles did the same thing as the front, moving up in different heights to show the ruffles and being about the same length on the sides. The dark purple fabric did the same thing as the front as well, coming into an upside V at the bottom of her back. Her shoulder blades were exposed as the dress didn't start until the middle of her back and the lacing went all the way from the top of the dress to the small of her back where it met the V of the fabric. It was absolutely stunning and suited her complexion perfectly.

That was when Isabelle saw her hair and a bright smile appeared as she saw her mother's work. Her hair was pulled away from her face in a loose french braid on sides before becoming a regular braid that was pinned into place. In the braid were little white and purple flowers, though she couldn't tell what kind they were. The rest of her mahogany hair flowed down her back in waves, meeting the top of the dress.

Her brown eyes flicked upwards to study her face and she was pleased with what her mother did. Her eyes were colored with various shades of purple, the darker shades on the outer corners of her eyes and fading to lighter tones to the inner corner. There were white highlights under her brow and in the corner of her eyes against her nose and a medium purple shade had been swept under her lashes on the bottom of her eyes. There was a small line of black lining her eyes and her lashes were coated with a black mascara. The rest of her face barely looked touched, but she could see the shimmer on her face and she knew that she would definitely shine at the ball.

Taking in the final product, Isabelle turned to her mother with tears in her eyes. "Don't you dare, young lady. You'll ruin the hard work I did!" she teased, knowing that tears were in her own eyes as well as she took in her stunning daughter.

"Thank you so much, mother," she said, moving to give the woman a hug. She glanced outside and noticed that it was much darker and getting closer to the ball. "You better go get ready, mother, or you'll be late," she told the older woman with a smile and Shae nodded. "I will send your father up here when it is time for you to come down so that I can greet the guests as they arrive."

Isabelle nodded and Shae left. Lucretia stayed to start cleaning up after the small mess they had made and Isabelle smiled. "Lu, would you mind getting me a glass of water?" she asked and Lucretia glanced up, smiling. "No, young miss. I will be right back," she said before curtsying and exiting the room.

Isabelle stared at herself in the mirror for a few minutes, not entirely believing that it was truly her, before sitting on one of the chaises by the fireplace and opening the book she had been reading the night before. Her door opened and she glanced up, smiling when she saw Lucretia enter with the water and set it down. "Thank you," she said before taking a sip and going back to her book as Lucretia continued to clean up before leaving the room.

She didn't know how much time had passed before a knock on her door drew her out of the book and she set it down. "Come in!" she called out, standing. The door opened and her father entered the room, closing it softly behind him.

"Oh my little bird, you are so beautiful," he said with tears in his eyes. Isabelle smiled widely at him, taking in the black pants and jacket with a forest green tie. She knew immediately what color her mother's dress was just by that and she grinned. Her mother and father always paired their clothing color on occasions like this.

"You look just as handsome, father," she said, walking over to him. "Is it time?" she asked with a smile.

Dakota, her father, shook his head. "Not quite yet, little bird," he said. That was when she realized he held something behind his back. Her curious look caught his attention and he smiled before bringing his hand out, showing to his daughter that he held a flat black velvet box. "Your mother and I got this for you to wear tonight. Here. Open it," he said, handing it to her.

Isabelle gave him a slightly confused look before taking it and opening it. She looked down and immediately gasped. "Oh father," she breathed, taking in the sight of the necklace and earring set nestled into the velvet fabric. The jewels were tear drop amethysts and were mounted on silver prongs for the earrings and a silver piece of metal that looked like a ribbon with the top part lining up so the that necklace laid flat when the chain was looped through. It was absolutely gorgeous and she knew that it would pair with her dress well.

"Put it on?" she asked, looking up at her father with tears in her eyes and he nodded, taking the necklace out and setting the box on the table. She turned away from him and lifted her hair so that he could place the necklace around her neck. After he clasped it, she let her hair fall back down and adjusted the pendant so that it laid right above her dress on the top swell of her breasts. She grabbed the box and took the earrings out, putting them in quickly.

The final picture was stunning and she turned to her father with a bright smile. "Thank you, father. It's absolutely perfect," she said, going to him and giving him a hug.

"Anything for you, little bird," Dakota said, returning the hug before gesturing to the door. "Shall we?"

Isabelle took a deep breath and then let it out. With a nod, she took her father's arm and they strode to the door. "We shall."

 **Alright! What did you guys think? I have my best friend helping me along the way, so anytime I get stuck, she's able to help me work through it which is what I needed awhile back, but didn't have, so I stopped writing. Now that I am able to work through everything, this story will have chapters uploaded every week, probably on Sundays. I really just wanted to get this one posted for you guys. Chapter three will be posted this coming Sunday and the rest will follow as planned. Don't forget to review and tell me how I'm doing since I literally haven't written in ages. Thanks guys!**

 **Katie**


	3. The Official Meeting

**Hey guys! Thank you for the reviews! I am glad that there are some people out there who like this story despite the long breaks! Without further ado, here is chapter 3!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, I just mess with the characters.**

 **Chapter 3: The Official Meeting**

Isabelle and her father left her room and started down the hallway. As they reached the stairs, Isabelle could feel butterflies in her stomach and she placed her free hand upon it, trying to soothe it. Noticing her movement, Dakota stopped in the hallway before the stairs become visible and turned to her with concern.

"Are you alright, little dove?" he asked, worry shining in his eyes for his beloved daughter.

Isabelle looked up to him with a soft smile and nodded. "I am well. Just nerves. It's strange as this is not the first time we have had a ball like this here, but I can't help it," she murmured, glancing down for a moment.

A fond smile appeared on her father's face and he fully turned towards her, using his hand to tilt her chin up to look at him. "Oh, my little dove," he whispered. "Even though the ball is for you to meet possible suitors, do not feel pressured to choose tonight. Take your time. Do not rush through a decision like this," he implored, his eyes boring into hers as if he was searching for something. He must have seen whatever it was because after she gave him a smile and a nod, a somewhat relieved smile appeared and he straightened.

"Shall we continue, father?" Isabelle queried, gesturing to the stairs just beyond the turn in the hallway.

Dakota nodded and they started forward once again. He made sure that she made her way down the stairs without injury and when they reached the bottom, they glanced at each other for a moment before starting to laugh quietly at the obvious look of relief in both sets of eyes.

It took her a moment to gather herself and she no longer felt nervous about tonight. The ball was being held in her honor and she would make sure that her parents would be proud of her tonight.

Squeezing her father's arm for a moment, Isabelle stepped away, allowing Dakota to continue further to the closed ballroom doors. He slipped in without notice, closing the door behind him. Isabelle watched as he did so and let out a deep breath as she assured herself. She knew that tonight would be both fun and exhausting.

She wasn't naive enough to think that every single man that had arrived was going to vying for her hand in marriage because they wanted to get to know her and hopefully wed her. No, she knew that there would be those who were only vying for her attention to get their hands on her family's money.

The Sparrow family had been the founding family of the town they lived in Italy, but close to the border of France, and thus were considered the Lords/Ladies of the Land. The starting village had been small, with a handful or two of people living there, before more settlers stopped by and joined the villagers as time went by. The village expanded and with that came more trading and more people, growing everyday. The Sparrow family made sure to be fair in anything they did, not wanting to give reasons for the townspeople to turn against them. If someone brought new ideas from other lands, they weren't cast out for trying to overstep, but instead were welcomed with open arms.

At first, it was a hard battle to get the other villagers to agree to outsider ideas, but once the then ruling Lord decreed that every new idea would have a trial basis to see if it would fit within their little society, even the more traditional villagers relented. And even when an idea didn't work, it was still written down in a journal that Isabelle's father still had and would eventually be passed down to his current heir, Isabelle. The journal held centuries of the Sparrow family history and Isabelle loved to read through it, especially when she was able to see how far they had come already in just the few centuries that the book had been started to today.

With the ideas implemented, the fortune of her family grew and while she didn't know the exact amount, she was sure that it was quite large by today's standards. Thus the reason why she would be wary and try to discern the suitors' reasons for coming up to her, whether they be benevolent or not.

With a small sigh at the task before her, Isabelle shook her head slightly to rid herself of the thoughts for the moment and focused on the door in front of her, waiting for her father to announce her presence. Only a few moments later did she hear the low murmur of chattering die down and her father's booming voice echoing in the ballroom. She smiled as he spoke of her for a few moments before the doors started to open slowly, the doormen following the lead of her father.

"And now, without further ado, may I present my daughter, Isabelle Marie Sparrow!" he called out when the doors were almost fully opened. His arm was reached out towards the door, letting everyone know that Isabelle had arrived and when they saw her, they were stunned into silence.

Isabelle had a soft smile on her face as she strode gracefully toward her mother and father, her head held high as she passed many of the guests. She kept her eyes on her parents, holding back the sting of tears as she caught her mother's eyes, her own glistening in the light. Glancing to her father, she saw the proud look on his face and she smiled just a bit wider as she reached the couple and turned to face the crowd.

It took her a moment to adjust to the lighting difference, but once she did, she couldn't help but to let out a quiet breath of shock when she realized how many people were there. The entire town must have come tonight!

As she stared over the crowd with slightly wide and awed eyes, her father smiled brightly and spoke to the group. "Would you please join my wife and I in a round of applause for my daughter's fifteenth year of life?" he asked before he started to clap. Quickly, the crowd joined in and Isabelle couldn't help but to blush lightly. She couldn't help but to see a few men close to her chuckle at the blush and that ended up making it deepen.

Isabelle turned to her father and mother, moving closer to them to wrap them in her arms gently and give them a kiss on each cheek. "Thank you both," she whispered in their eyes and when she pulled away, noticed both of them blinking away tears.

She then turned towards the crowd and raised her hand, causing the applause to die. She cleared her throat softly before starting to speak. "I want to thank each and every one of you for coming out tonight. I know that with the harvest nearing its end, we are all very busy to make sure we prepare for the coming winter. I promise that I, like my mother and father have done in the past, will do my part in the preparations. But for now, let us enjoy tonight as a night to relax and have fun. Thank you," she said, her voice starting off soft and quiet and then ending with a much louder and sure tone. She gestured for the music to start again and curtsied to the crowd before she did the same to her parents.

It wasn't long before Isabelle was starting to be approached from some men asking her for a dance. She always graciously accepted their offer, though she internally wished she were in a position to refuse some of them. Despite the fact that she was clothed in a non-revealing dress except maybe for the top swell of her breasts, some of the gazes of the men made her feel like she was wearing nothing and it disturbed her greatly. She always made sure that she caught their name properly and whether or not her first impression of them was decent or not.

Every once in awhile, she would return to her mother and father, standing next to them as others came up to greet them. A lot of the people she was familiar with and others not as much, but she tried to make sure she remembered each person who was new so that she might recognize them again later on. After time passed for a little while, Shae turned to Isabelle and asked how her night had been going so far.

Knowing that it was improper to speak ill of someone in the general area of said person, Isabelle simply spoke of the person and her eyes expressed to her mother her true feelings on most of them. Mirth shined in Shae's eyes as she listened, not envying her daughter's position as she had to do the same thing on her fourteenth year of life.

The duo continued to speak about the party before Isabelle's attention was grabbed by her father greeting the next group.

"Ah, Monsieur Volturi! Thank you for coming!" he exclaimed, grasping the older man's hand and shaking it. Isabelle turned to see who had approached them and froze in near shock.

It was a group of four men, three standing in the back and were obviously brothers. The first thing Isabelle noticed about the man standing in front were the heavy lines in his face, immediately showing his much older age, as well as his fairly chiseled features. His eyes were next, a mix of blue and green that reminded Isabelle of the sea, but with a faint red ring around the lid as if he had been crying recently. However, the smile on the man's face as he talked to her father was genuine, the lift of his cheeks enhancing the lines at the outer corner of his eyes.

Glancing over the rest of the group for a moment, she took in the fact that they were all wearing dark suits that, in the lighting, looked to be a dark blue shade. She couldn't help but to smile faintly at that before starting to study the men in the back. They were in a line and, with their positioning, looked as if they were trying to protect the one in middle, which made her believe that he may have been the youngest.

The one closest to her had short and wavy, dark blonde hair that seemed to shine in the light, but not with oil. At first glance, she didn't notice the fine beard, but then saw that it looked like a shadow on his face and thought it quite suited him. His golden haired features paired quite nicely with a pair of honey colored eyes, a color that startled her for a moment as it was almost a complete opposite of his father, but reasoned that the color must have come from their late mother or perhaps a grandparent on either side.

Turning her gaze on the man in the middle of the trio, she couldn't help but to smile at the impish grin he gave her when he caught her gaze. She knew that he would be one to watch out for, but she didn't feel like it would be for a bad reason. She took in his short, tousled hair that looked to be unbrushed at first, but upon a second look, realized that it was a mixture of curly and choppy, but blended fairly well considering. His features were rather young, making her think that he must have been not too much older than her. His face was clean-shaven for the most part other than the small sideburns by his ears. It wouldn't have been very noticeable at first glance and it was actually quite adorable. He had stunning eyes as well, a distinct shade of green that reminded her of the jade necklace that her mother wore quite often as it had been a gift from her father upon her fourteenth birthday. Or so the story went.

The smile on Isabelle's face dropped in shock once she moved to the last brother furthest away from her and registered his features. Despite only have met with him once, the dark blue eyes, short dark blonde hair, and the smirk on his lips shot a jolt through her body, seeming to ignite a fire within herself. Staring into his eyes for a moment, she could see that he had not known who she was earlier in the day as the surprise she found was genuine. Her mother had always said that Isabelle had a knack for being able to discern what kind of person someone was and whether they were being truthful or not.

"May I introduce my daughter, Isabelle Marie Sparrow?" filtered into her mind, forcing her to tear away her eyes from Andres and turning to her father with a smile back in place, though her eyes still held slight shock and surprise at Andres' appearance.

She moved from her mother's side and to her father's, turning to Monsieur Volturi and curtsying. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur," she said softly, but assured as she looked up at the man.

"Just as it is a pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle," he returned, bowing to Isabelle in greeting. "May I introduce my sons: Aro, Caius, and Marcus," he then added, turning slightly towards the three men behind him. As he said the name, he gestured to the corresponding son. Aro was the closest one to Isabelle, Caius in the middle, and Marcus on the farthest side.

If Marcus had done the same thing Isabelle had when giving their names earlier, she couldn't help but to think that Marcus Andres Volturi was a very handsome sounding name.

Isabelle curstyed to the trio and received bows in return. She gave each of them a smile, though she directed a slight questioning look towards Marcus, before turning to her father, who had been watching her with careful eyes. At the look, Isabelle had no doubt that her mother had told her husband who Isabelle had met while at the market and when she turned to look at her mother, her suspicions were confirmed at the slightly guilty, but amused look on her mother's face.

As one of the brothers, Aro, stepped forward, Isabelle turned her attention back to the group. "It is lovely to meet you, Lady Sparrow," he began before gesturing behind him. "May I also introduce my fiance, Victoire Loughlin?" A woman stepped out from behind him, unnoticed by Isabelle at first due to Aro's height and her distraction at the sight of Marcus. She glanced over the woman, taking in the chestnut colored hair and dark brown eyes with a smile.

So Aro was due to be married, which meant that out of the three brothers, she would only have to deal with Caius and Marcus. "It is a pleasure, Miss Loughlin," she greeted, stepping forward to kiss Victoire's cheeks as she did the same. "Please, call me Isabelle," she added, speaking to the whole group. "Lady Sparrow is my mother," she then laughed, glancing back at said woman.

Turning back, she caught the gaze of Marcus and gave him a smile before she noticed that their father had started to speak. "We won't take any more of your time for the time being, Dakota," he stated before gesturing to his sons and soon to be daughter-in-law. The group bowed/curtsied once more before walking off to the side so that the next group could approach.

This continued for a little while longer with Isabelle going along with a slightly distracted mind. It wasn't until she felt her mother's touch on her arm that she realized that Shae had been trying to tell her something. A blush covered her cheeks as she turned to give her attention fully to her mother. "Sorry, mother," she apologized. "What was it that you were saying?"

Isabelle's mother just shook her head with a fond smile. "Go. Go enjoy your party. Your father and I can take care of the rest of the line," she answered and Isabelle could barely hold back a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, mother," she exclaimed quietly before kissing her cheek and then doing the same with her father. She then moved away from the pair and into the crowd, letting herself relax a little bit. While she didn't mind greeting guests and such with her parents, she couldn't stand to do it for as long as they did. That was one thing that she marveled about the people who raised her and hoped that she would have the patience to do the same one day.

As she moved through the crowd, she paused to speak with several different people and had at some point managed to grab a glass of champagne off of the tray from one of the servers passing by. As Isabelle sipped at her bubbly drink, she caught sight of one of her friends that she had been dying to speak to about the events from earlier and gave her goodbyes to the group she had been talking to before starting to maneuver her way towards her friend.

Then suddenly, a hand was encircled around her wrist, though gently, and it brought her to a stop. She focused on her glass and not spilling the contents for a moment before turning to see who had wanted her attention. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw who it was.

"May I have this dance?"

 **Oooooo who is it that is asking our dear Isabelle to dance? Could it be Andres or someone else? Stay tuned to find out! Next update will be Sunday, October 22nd! Don't forget to review as it helps me out with future ideas and gives me more motivation to continue writing/posting :D Thanks guys! -Katie**


	4. Chosen

**Please forgive the late update! Work kicked my ass and didn't want to let go long enough for me to update. Thank you guys for the reviews and I hope you enjoy!**

 **SLIGHT TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD FOR THE FIRST BIT OF THE STORY! I'll mark where it ends. You can skip over it as it really isn't detrimental to the plot :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, I only play in its sandbox!**

 **Chapter 4: Chosen**

"May I have this dance?"

Isabelle stared at the man in front of her for only a moment before nodding, knowing that a couple of people were looking at her. She really didn't want to dance with him, but she literally had no choice. She gave her glass to a passing server, though she had barely taken a sip out of it, before taking the arm that was held out for her.

She hid a shiver of revulsion, but he must have felt it still due to the small connection. He gave her a smile as he led her to the area of the ballroom that was for dancing. The music, thankfully, was one that didn't give the need for the partners to be close, but it seemed that he didn't care as he twirled Isabelle around and then pulled her close to him.

The smell of his cologne made her gag, the scent overwhelming and cloying. She had to go against all of her instincts that were screaming at her to get away from him, knowing that she couldn't make a scene. She pasted a smile on her face as she glanced up at her partner at the sound of his voice that sent shivers down her spine and not in the good way.

"Are you enjoying your evening so far, Isabelle?" he asked, looking down at her with a look of possessiveness and obsession. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's Lady Sparrow, Monsieur Sondario, and for the most part, I am," she answered, her voice flat. The feeling that he was giving off made her disgusted. She had gotten the same feeling when he had first spoke to her earlier in the night and was trying to think of a way to get away from him.

"That makes me happy, Isabelle," he grinned, ignoring her words about her name. She had opened her mouth to remind him of what she had just said, but he started to talk over her. "What would you say to going outside for a breath of fresh air?" Without her reply, he took her arm and started heading towards the garden area off to the side of the ballroom.

Due to them being so close to the entrance, she was barely able to say a word as she was all but dragged out of the ballroom and away from the others. She could feel her heart racing as his grip tightened, a strangled gasp escaping from her throat at the twinge of pain. "Please, Monsieur," she begged. "Let me go. You're hurting me!"

She tried to tug her arm away but only succeeded in making his grip even tighter as he continued to pull her further into the gardens and away from help. Tears started to well up as she frantically looked towards the door, hoping to see someone following after the pair, but not seeing anyone.

"Now, now, my dear sweet Isabelle," Sondario crooned as he stopped and turned towards her. The look in his eyes and the menacing curve of his lips scared her more than she would admit and she opened her mouth to scream. His other hand came up to cover her mouth, backing her against a pillar. Almost immediately, her body instinctively arched into him, trying to get away from the freezing bricks, and he pressed into her, thinking she was arching into him on purpose. "Shh… everything will be okay. We belong together. Don't you see?" he continued to croon into her ear, the look in his eyes giving away the madness.

Isabelle shook her head frantically. She couldn't get anything out due to the hand against her mouth, but she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

Then, all of a sudden, the next thing she knew, Sondario was ripped away from her and she took in a shuddering gasp of breath, clinging to the bricks behind her as her legs threatened to give away. Arms came around her and she jumped, ready to scream, before she took in the scent of who it was and immediately relaxed, recognizing it. She turned into the broad chest against her and she felt a jacket be placed around her shivering form.

Isabelle felt another pair of smaller arms wrap around her and she instinctively knew it was her mother and she let out a breath of relief. "Mamma," she whimpered, but not turning out of the chest that she was still pressed into.

"It's okay, my sweet girl," Shae murmured, kissing the top of her daughter's head as she looked up at the man who was holding her. "Thank you," she mouthed to Marcus Volturi with a look of gratefulness in her eyes and he nodded, a smile on his face but a look of fury in his eyes.

Marcus turned his head to look at his brothers, Aro and Caius, holding Sondario by his arms and Dakota, Isabelle's father, standing in front of him with the constable. He couldn't hear what was being said but it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the woman in his arms. He looked back to Isabelle's mother as she started to speak.

"We should cancel the party. She needs to rest," Shae started before blinking in surprise at the sudden "NO" that Isabelle gave her, her head shaking.

"No," Isabelle continued in a calmer tone. "The party will continue. I just need a moment," she murmured, letting out a deep breath. As she did, she felt Marcus' arms start to fall and his body starting to back up and she looked up at him in slight panic. "Don't leave me," she nearly begged and his arms immediately went back around her, calming her and making her suddenly racing heart start to slow.

"Never, mia dolce," he whispered into her hair, pressing his cheek against her head. He caught the look that Shae gave him, but knew that it wasn't a negative one. "Are you ready to head back inside?" he murmured and Isabelle nodded, taking a deep breath.

She pulled away from his grasp, taking a moment to herself. When she next looked at him, she had steel in her eyes and her spine was straight. "I am ready," she said, her voice soft, but a little bit firmer than it had been before. She was no where near okay at the moment, but she would manage.

Without another word, she turned and headed back inside, leaving the others to do with Sondario as they wished. As she entered the ballroom, she had to blink for a few moments as her eyes got used to the brighter lights before she made her way towards a server. She gave him a smile before taking a glass of champagne and sipping at it. She would have preferred something stronger, but she could get that after the party.

"Lady Sparrow?"

Isabelle turned to the voice, a smile on her lips as she saw Marcus standing behind her.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked softly, giving her the chance to refuse him. But she didn't want to. With a nod, she finished the rest of her glass before setting it down and placing her hand in his.

They walked back to the dance floor, the atmosphere surrounding the pair significantly different than her previous dance partner. She felt slight buzzing in her veins and her heart raced as they faced each other as the previous song ended and another one started up.

Isabelle couldn't help but to smile at the beginning notes, recognizing it as the song that her mother used to sing to her. She placed her hand in his and her other on his shoulder, his free hand going to her waist. She looked up at Marcus, her eyes shining, and he smiled down at her.

As the cue for the dancing to start appeared, Isabelle let her feet move in the familiar patterns and was pleasantly surprised as Marcus matched her step for step. It was a style of the waltz but not exactly. As she turned, her dress swished around her feet, billowing out as air gathered beneath the fabric.

Isabelle and Marcus kept their gazes locked together, not noticing as the guests around them ended up clearing the dancefloor for the couple, content to watch them dance.

As Marcus twirled Isabelle out to the side and back into his arms, he dipped her low, making her catch her breath in surprise before she was brought back up, her back against his chest.

"Do you trust me?' he asked lowly and she nodded, looking up at him over her shoulder. "With my life," she replied, knowing that it was the truth despite the fact they had only met for the first time earlier that day. She couldn't explain it, but it was as if her heart was recognizing him from long ago, like they had been together before, perhaps in a past life.

Marcus' blue eyes sparkled at her answer before he wrapped an arm around her waist as the music started to swell and as it hit its peak, he lifted her off her feet and spun slowly in time with the music. The purple fabric of her dress swung around the pair before fluttering down as Marcus lowered her back to the floor. She turned in his arms, placing her hands back to their original position, but staying closer to him than was probably appropriate.

They continued to dance to the rest of the song and as it ended, she backed up and did a low curtsy, keeping her eyes locked with his.

When the last notes rang out, Isabelle felt like she was brought out of a spell and blinked several times, her chest heaving slightly as if she were panting. She glanced around them, only then taking in the sound of clapping from their audience. A blush set on her cheeks as she looked around and then turned back to Marcus. He had the most wonderful smile on his lips and she simply smiled back at him.

Taking a deep breath, Isabelle let it out slowly before extending her hand palm up for him to take. A collective gasp echoed through the crowd as they registered what her action meant, but Isabelle only had eyes for Marcus. She knew that she was taking a huge risk with her actions, but also knew that it would be worth it if he were to reciprocate. If he didn't…. She didn't want to even consider the thought.

It was only a few moments that had passed, but they felt like forever as Isabelle waited for Marcus to respond. When she felt his fingers against hers, she let out a breath of relief and happiness. She tightened her grip on his hand for a second before lacing their fingers together and then tugging slightly for him to follow her.

They maneuvered their way through the crowd and to Isabelle's parents, who were standing next to Marcus' father and brothers. She figured that the nasty business with Sondario was taken care of and thus put it behind her.

"Mother, father, Monsieurs Volturi," she said, coming to a stop in front of the group and curtsying to the ground once more. She knew that the silence in the ballroom was going to enable everyone to hear her words, but she didn't care.

"May I introduce my chosen, Marcus Andres Volturi."

 **Whew! This chapter was just itching to get out and I'm fairly pleased with the results! Let me know what you think in the reviews below! They are like cookies for me :D**

 **Katie**


	5. Transition

**Hey guys! I'm so glad to see that people are enjoying the story! As I've said before, I really wanted to make sure that everything flowed and made sense, which my best friend/beta is helping me figure out as I go, and I'm happy to see that there aren't any questions in the reviews, which means everything was explained and people understood what was going on. That's the main thing that I want in my stories! Anyway, here's the next chapter of A Forgotten Love and as the title says, it's a transition, but in more ways than one! Read to find out what happens!**

 **Chapter 5: Transition**

The declaration at Isabelle's birthday ball had shocked most of the townspeople, thinking that it was much too soon. However, Marcus and Isabelle did not give much thought to the others. While she had chosen Marcus at the party and he agreed, they were not going to get married for awhile. Instead they took time to get to know the other, figuring out likes and dislikes, quirks, tells, peeves, etc.

As the couple got to know each other better, they also got to know the other's family. Isabelle was absolutely doted upon by Marcus' father, Lotar, which had surprised Marcus. Isabelle just thought he missed having a female around their home since the death of his wife. Aro had married Victoire and were actually expecting their first child within the first full moon cycle after the union. Isabelle and Victoire bonded and were as close as sisters could be, even with the surprising news that Isabelle's parents were expecting as well.

Out of Marcus' brothers, Isabelle found herself bonding closer with Caius than Aro, though they were still close as well. Caius was the playful brother that she could go to whenever she was bored, which was more often than not, and Aro was the one that she went to for debates and when she just wanted to relax when Marcus wasn't available.

As for Marcus, Isabelle's parents, Shae and Dakota, adored him. At first, Dakota was weary of him due to finding out about their first meeting, but warmed up to Marcus once he saw how the pair adored each other despite the short time. Shae was immediately on board with the idea of the pair being a couple and welcomed him into the family happily.

Time passed and before they knew it, they had been together for three years before Marcus asked her to marry him and she said yes. The town had long since seen the love shared between the couple and now approved of the relationship, though neither cared for the town's opinions about them.

Marcus and Isabelle got married in the backyard of her parents' house, the pastor of the church officiating the ceremony and Shae and Victorie carrying their babies on their hips. Isabelle had a little brother named Michael and a niece named Guinevere and they were absolutely adorable.

Life was good for the Sparrow and Volutri families for quite awhile, especially when Isabelle found out that she was with child several months after the ceremony. Marcus was over the moon with joy and they were trying to think of names for their child when word was brought to the attention of the Volturi brothers about a wild animal attacking and killing some of the villagers.

Determined, the brothers set out to kill the beast along with Dakota and Lotar despite Isabelle stating that she had a really bad feeling about them leaving. Worried, Victoire stayed with Isabelle at her parents' house until their husbands returned. The only thing was that they never did.

All three women were heartbroken when the constable came to the house with Lotar and Dakota's bloodied bodies and said that the brothers had disappeared and it was assumed that whatever had killed Lotar and Dakota had probably taken off with the brothers as there was only scraps of the fabrics they had been wearing and pools of blood left behind.

Victoire and Shae did their best to keep Isabelle from miscarrying due to the stress and the shock of her husband's death, but they were unable to do so and only weeks after finding out about the news did Isabelle wake up in the middle of the night in pain and screaming in both fear and despair. She had lost her husband, fathers, and brothers and now her child, which would have been their son if he had carried all the way.

After getting cleaned up and letting it sink in, Isabelle's heart was shattered beyond repair and every day she went through the motions of living as if she were in a fog. It would take many attempts for someone to get her attention and when they did, her eyes were blank and glassy. She wasn't coping well and it was obvious.

It wasn't until her brother, Michael, was able to walk and talk that she broke herself out of her stupor, realizing that she wasn't the only one who lost someone and that there were still others that needed to be taken care of. Isabelle started to slowly learn to live again, her focus being her little brother and her niece.

Then her mother came down with a fever in the middle of the night that steadily got worse and worse each passing day and Isabelle ended up quarantining her in her room, making sure that Victoire kept the children away from the house. She already knew that she would lose her mother too, but she would be damned if she lost the little ones as well.

However, in order to take care of her mother, Isabelle was exposed to the fever as well and soon came down with, but at a slower rate than her mother. Sick, Isabelle knew she didn't have long before her time would come, but she had to make sure that Victoire knew that she was going to have to take care of the little ones. It would no doubt be hard on the woman, but Isabelle had faith in her sister.

When Shae passed during the night, thankfully without much pain due to the medicines that the town apothecary had given her, Isabelle was the only one who was there as the body was cremated. As she stared into the fire, she didn't notice the figure coming up behind her and when she did, it was too late.

All she saw was a white blur and then a sudden burning at her neck that quickly spread like wildfire through the rest of her body. She honestly wondered if she had been thrown on the pyre with her mother as it felt like she was being burned alive. She couldn't tell how much time had passed or where she was at during the burning. Isabelle just wanted to lose herself in the fire, but something inside her nagged at her to think of her life and the people in it. Marcus was a prominent figure in her memories as well as Michael and Guinevere for the short time she knew them.

Isabelle constantly wondered if she were in hell with the burning seeming to get hotter and hotter with each passing second. That was when she realized that while the temperature seemed to increase at the center of her body, she felt a cooling sensation at the tips of her limbs. As the coolness spread, the heat was chased into her heart, and she couldn't stop screaming as the pain grew to unimaginable heights.

Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. She could hear everything as clear as a whistle. The chirping of birds, the whisper of the wind blowing through the leaves, a trickle of a stream nearby, and a steady _thump thump_ that she couldn't figure out what it belonged to.

Then Isabelle opened her eyes and they widened in wonder. Every color was vivid and she could see little specks in the air that she didn't remember being there before. Her eyes flicked back and forth between various things in the air before the wind shifted and blew a heavenly scent towards her. She inhaled and a literal growl escaped her throat as she stood up without a thought and chased the scent, following it as it grew stronger.

As she burst through a clearing, she launched through the air, her instincts guiding her. Her hands, curved like claws, gripped through layers of fur and her teeth went straight for the jugular, slicing through the muscle and sinew like freshly churned butter. A liquid gushed out of the wound and filled Isabelle's mouth, causing her to moan at the taste and bring the animal closer to her, ignoring the thrashes it made with its own claws, each swipe feeling like a gentle caress against her skin.

All too quickly, the sweet liquid was gone and the animal was limp in her arms. She unlatched and shoved the body away, causing the last of the blood to spray against her face and chest, coating her in red. Feeling a burn in her throat, she gripped it tightly before she let her instincts guide her once again and she ended up running for a little while before coming across a herd of deer.

Without thought, she launched through the air once more and lept at the deer, snapping their necks so that they couldn't run before angling their necks so that she could drink. As she ate, her technique slowly got better and she was able to eventually start taking deep pulls instead of the frenzied feeding she had been doing, which actually caused more blood to go over her body instead of inside her mouth.

When she finally felt full to the point of sloshing, it was as if Isabelle's mind snapped back and she was able to take in what she had done. She cried out in sudden horror at the bodies surrounding her and the blood coating nearly every inch of her front. She ran to a stream that she could hear nearby and sank to the edge of the water, staring at her reflection.

Bright crimson eyes stared back at her, an expression of both terror and wonder shining through the water. She lifted a hand and the reflection in the water did the same, making her blink in shock. The bloodied hand dipped into the water and then she suddenly started scrubbing at her skin, wanting to get the blood off of her skin. It took a few minutes, though she still had a bunch on her due to the dress she had been wearing, and when she was mostly clean, she looked back into the water, staring at her reflection.

The creature staring back at her had extremely pale skin, but it seemed to give a luminous glow even in the shade of the trees above her. Chocolate brown hair shone in the indirect light and when she moved further out of the shaded area and to the sun, the hair became more detailed and deep red and black highlights became more visible. It was then that Isabelle looked down and saw the bits of skin that wasn't covered in blood sparkling like gems in the sunlight. She couldn't help but to twist her arm for several moments, mesmerized by the shine.

However, the clouds moved in front of the sun and her skin stopped shining, causing disappointment to run through the girl. With the distraction out of the way, Isabelle sat down at the edge of the river once more, letting her toes dip in the water. The water felt lukewarm to her when she knew that it should have been freezing due to the winter coming in.

Thinking of all the changes that she had, Isabelle tried to piece together what she had become. A hand reached up to the side of her neck where she remembered the burning starting and frowned slightly. The only thing that was coming to mind was a vampire since she had drunk the blood of the animals earlier, but that didn't make sense. Vampires weren't real. They were just stories to make children behave. Weren't they?

Then Isabelle froze when a thought filtered through her mind. Her mother hadn't realized that she was near when talking to the constable, but she knew that her father and father-in-law's bodies had been drained of blood as well as the other bodies that had been found previously. Maybe it hadn't been a wild animal, but a vampire coming through? If that were the case, then why were the brothers taken? Were they changed? Had they become a creature of the night as well?

Isabelle shook her head when she thought the last part, knowing that it couldn't have been true. If it were, they would have come back for their wives and sons. At least, Aro and Marcus would have since Caius hadn't married yet. As they hadn't come back, Isabelle had to believe that they were truly dead.

Unfortunately for the newborn vampire, she didn't realize that just because she could remember most of her human life didn't mean others could. Marcus wouldn't remember Isabelle until they met next, which wouldn't be for centuries to come.

 **Alrighty! So, a lot of things happened in this chapter! For the first few chapters, I wanted to make sure that I set up a little bit about the main characters' human lives and give a little backstory instead of what I did in the first version of this story: jumping straight into Isabelle being a vampire and going to Volterra. It confused me as I re-read the story and that was why I rewrote it. Now we have more flow and the story is starting to move forward. What I will say with the next undetermined amount of chapters is that this is where Twilight starts coming into play. It will follow a lot of the first book events with differences that will be explained as they appear, but it is necessary for the plot. I'm just letting you guys know so that there won't be much confusion once the next chapter is up! Anyway, I'm going to start doing sneak peeks of the next chapter for each review, sent to the reviewer's PM inbox! This will also make sure I always am at least one chapter ahead, which will help me out a lot because of my job. Anyway, don't forget to read and review so that you can get a sneak peek of the next chapter!**

 **Katie**


	6. The Arrival

**Alrighty, here we are! The start of Twilight with a lot of differences! As I stated in the previous chapter, I'm going to be doing most of the first book since Isabelle is a vampire and you will need to see how she interacts with everything. I'm not going to say anything else as I might end up giving something away, but I'm actually really excited about this one! A lot of characters are going to be introduced and you might need to re-read parts of this chapter to make sure you understand what's going on. Anyway, here is the next chapter of A Forgotten Love! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 6: The Arrival**

Over the next millennia, Isabelle wandered the world, watching as humans advanced through the years with various inventions and discoveries. It was a marvel to witness such a diverse race from all over the world be able to come up with things that made their lives easier. Isabelle had grown a habit of learning about such inventions, though from afar as she did her best to keep away from most humans in fear of retaliation if they ever were to find out what she was. With the knowledge she gained, Isabelle would travel the world, helping to spread the word of the inventions and making lives easier.

There were only a small handful of humans that knew what she was and thankfully, they hadn't immediately grabbed the pitchfork, so to speak. Isabelle was given a chance to explain that she wasn't like other vampires and had only fed on animal blood her whole life except for one time where she had met her singer and killed them. That was also the time that she found out that she couldn't stomach human blood at all. It made her sick to her stomach, which for a vampire, was no easy feat. After conversing with a few nomads here and there about her quirkiness with blood, they came to the realization that the allure of animal blood to Isabelle was the same thing as the allure to human blood for other vampires. They just couldn't figure out the reason behind it and Isabelle eventually gave up on trying to figure it out and just went with it.

After being told that Isabelle could only feed on animal blood, the humans allowed her to stay with them for a time and they taught each other many different things. The humans taught her their culture and things that they had come up with while Isabelle shared her stories and the things she had learned from her travels around the world. It wouldn't be too long before she left the village however and, unbeknownst to her, the humans would write about the ethereal creature that had helped their villages and prayed for her to come back at some point in the future.

Eventually, Isabelle made it to the land of the west after crossing the vast ocean by swimming. She kept away from the humans that lived on the large body of land, waiting to see how they interacted and tried to get an idea of what their culture was. Eventually, she tried to approach a few of the villages, thinking that maybe it would be the same as the villages overseas. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only vampire most of the villages had come across and, because they didn't have good experiences with them, chased her off rather quickly. Because of this, Isabelle made sure to keep her distance, regardless of whether or not the village would have been nice to her.

While she traveled through the land, Isabelle had discovered her powers with the help of a vampire who was able to tell what powers a vampire had or, if they were human, what they would have if they were turned. The vampire, Eleazar, had shown her what her powers were and she was shocked once she found out. It turned out that she had a mental shield, which could repel any mental gifts ,benign or otherwise; memory perception, which allowed her to take away or add memories, but only through trial and error did they realize it only extended to humans and no other species; the power of illusion, which changed anything vampire like about her and made her appear to be human, including a change in eye and skin color, since almost all vampires were pale as snow and the perk of being able to do this one was the fact that she could hide the sparkle that her kind had, a scent change that hid the sweet scent of vampire but kept the rest of her natural scent, a heartbeat, and even the illusion of having blood running through her veins, though she had to be careful to not get into situations where she would bleed as if she did, the illusion would be shattered since she only had venom running through her; and for the last power, it was one that tied into her mental shield: if she had met a human and made a connection with them, her shield would extend to said human and wrap around their memories of her. As a human, they would be able to remember her until their dying day, but if they were changed into a vampire or any other species, the shield would lock the memories of her to the point they forgot about her until they met face to face again with Isabelle in her true appearance, which is when the shield would pop like a bubble and merge back with Isabelle's main shield inside her.

Eleazar and Isabelle worked on controlling her powers and it took awhile before she was able to master her shield and memory perception, but the illusion took even longer to master since, in the beginning, she had to actually focus on keeping the illusion going. It was only through practice and time that she got to the point it felt natural to have the illusion over her, though she could pick and choose which parts she wanted to use. Eleazar was only able to help her for so long before he met his mate and her sisters and they formed a coven. She had received an invitation to join them, but had politely declined, having the internal feeling that she needed to remain a nomad for awhile longer.

After leaving the group, which had been named the Denali coven, Isabelle travelled further around the continent, spending the time to master her talent of illusion. She couldn't do anything to gain control of the memory shield as that was pure subconscious on her part and as far as she could tell, there was literally no way to control it other than taking the memories out of the human's mind herself so that they would never be able to remember her. However, since the shield only wrapped around humans she made a connection with, thinking about taking their memories about her away made her freeze as she wanted to still have that connection.

Eventually, she just tuned out that power and it wasn't long before she nearly forgot about it entirely. It was still there though, in the back of her mind. Just like the nagging feeling she received when she heard rumors about the ruling coven of the vampire world. She had heard enough to know that they had overthrown the Romanian coven who had been the reason why humans knew about vampires all those years ago and since they took over, there was peace between the vampires and the humans as they let humans think that the vampires had "died" off and were no longer around. She had been told the rules and laws of being a vampire, but because she had her ability of illusion, she frequently disregarded those rules and started to interact with humans on a more frequent basis.

It eventually got to the point that Isabelle would be able to spend a certain amount of years as a "human" in a town before she would have an accident that resulted in her death, which allowed her to move on to a new town. Despite being able to give the illusion of looking human, the illusion never aged because Isabelle couldn't, and that was the main reason that forced her to move away. She continued in this fashion until she arrived in a little rainy and dreary town called Forks, Washington.

Almost immediately, she could tell that the town held seven different vampires and she grew curious as to how a whole coven lived in one town. Not long after arriving, Isabelle came across the chief of police, Charlie Swan, and used her powers on him to make him think that she was his daughter and never knew about her because his ex-wife never told him she was pregnant when she left him. She made sure that her illusion held throughout the day, making her truly look like his daughter with brown eyes and dark brown hair and making her skin tone a few shades darker so she didn't look like snow.

Before she knew it, it seemed like the whole town knew about her arrival and she was enrolled in the local high school. That was when she first met the Cullen family, or at least part of them, while at lunch at school. The first couple she saw was a blonde bombshell and a hulky man, the female wrapped into his side with his arm around her shoulders and hers around his waist. The next couple was one that made her raise her eyebrows once she saw them. A short, black haired girl who reminded Isabelle of a pixie held the hand of a rather handsome man with honey colored hair. As they walked towards the table the blonde had chosen, Isabelle caught sight of the man's scars and nearly let a gasp out at how many there were just on the little skin she saw due to the long sleeved shirt he wore. She controlled herself just in time however, and her brown eyes flicked towards the door as a single man came walking in. He had bronze colored hair and had a brooding expression on his face that made her force a cough to cover a laugh. She did notice that they all had the same color eyes as she normally did and that made her slightly curious.

Isabelle turned towards one of the girls at the table she was sitting at. "Jessica, who are they?" she asked quietly, though she knew that they could hear her just as well as if she were right next to them.

The brunette glanced over at Isabelle and followed where she was looking at, though the sudden fast beating of her heart let Isabelle know she knew exactly who she was talking about. "Oh, that's the Cullens. The two blondes are Rosalie and Jasper Hale, evidently fraternal twins or something. The big muscular one is Emmett Cullen, who is dating Rosalie, and the one beside Jasper is his girlfriend, Alice. The copper one is Edward," she said, her voice drifting off with a slight sigh as she mentioned Edward.

Isabelle had to try hard not to roll her eyes at Jessica's reaction, knowing that it was an involuntary response because of the allure of vampires which made them the ultimate predator for humans.

"According to my mom, all five of them were adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. Mrs. Cullen is Rosalie and Jasper's aunt or something and the others were taken from foster care into hers," Jessica continued, clearing her throat. "I think that the reason why for so many is because she can't have kids herself," she then whispered, leaning close to Isabelle as she spoke. Isabelle simply shrugged, knowing that it technically was the truth. As a vampire, your entire body was frozen and you would never be able to have kids.

"How long have they been here?" Isabelle asked, tilting her head slightly as she observed them. She noticed that they weren't eating, simply moving things around on their plates to make it look like they were. It was the same thing she was doing, though she could simply play it off as nerves since it was her first day.

"Oh, about two years now, I think? They moved here from somewhere in Alaska, if I remember correctly," Jessica answered before getting distracted by something one of the others had asked her.

Isabella sat back in her seat, watching the Cullens with a curious look. A few moments later, one of them, Edward, looked up and met her gaze with the same look of curiosity as well as expectation. Undeterred, she rose an eyebrow and gave him a small smile before turning back to the group and joining in with the conversation. At one point, the group stood up as one as if it were synchronized and left the cafeteria after throwing away their untouched trays. Isabelle watched them leave, her eyes slightly narrowed on how she was going to play out her time at the town.

"Bella?" called one girl, Angela. Isabelle, who was now going by Isabella Marie Swan, blinked and turned to the girl with a smile. "You and I have Biology II next. Do you want to walk together?" she asked, smiling gently. Isa nodded and stood, grabbing her bag and tray. She followed after the black haired girl, tossing her tray as she passed the trash, and they went on their way to their next class.

Entering the classroom, Isabelle immediately noticed Edward sitting by himself at a desk. She studied him for a few moments before she turned her attention back towards the teacher, who was smiling at her and asking for the pass she was supposed to have all of her teachers sign. The purpose of said pass was lost on her, but she did as she was told. She walked forward, passing in front of the fan that was next to the teacher's desk, and, out of the corner of her eye, notices Edward freezing up and his eyes going black, glaring with hostility towards her. She got her slip signed and when she was told to sit next to Edward, she blinked and then nodded, moving her stuff to her seat.

As soon as she sat down, she heard a low growl coming from the vampire beside her, so low that she wouldn't have heard it if she were human, so she didn't react to it outwardly. However, she was trying to figure out what the hell caused his reaction to her. It had to be her scent, but he was the only one who ever reacted this way to it. Pushing it out of her mind for the time being, she ignored Edward, taking notes and working on the classwork and then starting the homework as he just sat there with a pained expression on his face and the hostility still in his gaze.

As soon as the bell rung, he had grabbed his bag and was out of the classroom as fast as humanly possible and she shook her head. She gathered her things, eyeing her notes for a moment, before smirking slightly as an idea formed.

She went to her next class, waiting patiently for the next break. As Art passed by with their assignment to draw a scene that made them happy, Isabelle used that time to think about the day so far. She had realized on the way to Biology that so far, she had at least one Cullen in all of her classes so far. She hadn't really paid attention to all of the students before lunch, which was why she hadn't realized it.

Her first class, History, had Jasper and Emmett; her second, English, had Edward who hadn't shown up for the period, though the only reason she knew that he was in that class was because of Jessica; Trigonometry was with Rosalie; then lunch with everyone; Biology with Edward; and now Art with Rosalie and Alice. Isabelle knew that for Art and History, she had tested pretty high, so she had been placed with the senior classes. Trigonometry was a course that had a mixed amount of students which was the reason for having Rosalie in there with her.

When the bell rang for classes to switch, Isabelle was drawn out of her thoughts and glanced down to what she had started drawing. She had gone at human speed and was only done with most of the sketching and a few parts of the page was shaded, but she immediately knew what scene her mind had chosen: the first time she had met her husband, Marcus, in the market on the day of her 15th birthday. A wistful smile appeared on her face as she closed her sketchbook, half listening to the teacher as she stated their homework, which was to finish their drawing as well as another assignment to draw something they feared.

Isabelle gathered her things, ignoring the glare that Rosalie was sending her way as well as the bright smile Alice had on her face. She made her way to the gym, which was her final class and the only one that didn't have any Cullens. Because there was a 15 minute break in between the last two classes, Isabelle used that time to make a copy of her notes from Biology. Once it was finished, the bell had rung and kids started filing into the gym.

The teacher, Coach Clapp, had given her a set of gym clothes after being told her size to change into and she would join them in playing volleyball. As she changed, Isabelle thought about how to monitor her strength, eventually coming to the conclusion to just wing it and hope that her instincts would remember that she was in the vicinity of humans. Thankfully, it did and gym passed without any fuss. Thus ended her first day at Forks High School.

After changing back into her clothes, Isabelle took the second copy of notes out of her bag before heading outside. She paused for a moment, looking at the sea of bodies and cars. It didn't take her long to find her target and quickly started heading that way. She had to weave in and out through the sea of bodies ready to go home and relax. Eventually, she managed to reach the group of people and she gave them a quick smile.

"Excuse me, but you're the Cullens, right?" she asked, even though she knew exactly who they were.

Rosalie glared at me but nodded.

Isabelle let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god. I didn't know if you guys had left yet. I just wanted to give Edward a copy of the biology notes and wrote down what the homework was. He didn't look too good when we were in class, so I just wanted to make sure he didn't fall behind," she said, holding the small packet out for one of them to take.

It was a moment before Alice reached for the packet and grabbed it. "We will make sure he gets it," she replied with a smile. "Thanks, Bella!" she added before they all started to get in their cars. Isabelle waved as they left before smirking once they were out of sight. She turned around and started heading to her own car, a brick red 1997 Chevy pickup truck that Charlie had given her when she flat out refused to be driven around in a police car until she graduated.

She drove out of the parking lot and went home, noting the time that she would need to start making dinner for Charlie. He already knew that she was on a special diet and couldn't eat at the same times as he did, which he didn't mind. She did make sure that he always ate something and he always praised her cooking, though probably because he was used to eating take out all the time before she arrived.

After getting home and figuring out what she could make with the small amount of items that he had in his kitchen, Isabelle went up to her room and went ahead and worked on her homework. It didn't take her long before she finished and had time to get a load of laundry in before Charlie got home from work. She went down and sat with him as he ate, talking about their days until dinner was finished and he went into the living room with a beer to watch TV. She took this time to head back to her room and read a book until Charlie fell asleep.

Once he did, Isabelle slipped out and into the woods, being very aware of her surroundings since the Cullens were living in the town. It didn't take her long before she found a couple of animals for her to feed on and she let out a pleasurable sigh as she felt the edge being taken off. With that, she headed back to her room after cleaning up and browsed around on the computer in her room for the rest of the night, anticipating the next day.

 **So, there we have it! We now have an explanation of where Isabelle has been during the years, what her powers are (which I will gladly answer any questions on as it took me quite awhile to come up with them since there was a certain way I wanted the story to go), and how she came to Forks and how her time there is going to play out. While the rest of the story up to a certain point is going to follow fairly closely with the canon universe, there will definitely be some twists and turns that I have in store for you guys.**

 **Stay tuned to find out what's going to happen in the next chapter! Don't forget to review as you will get a sneak peak for the next chapter!**

 **Katie**


	7. Snowy Days

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the late update. I had both of my grandfathers go into the hospital within the past few weeks and with work, I just couldn't find the time to update and answer questions. I do not think I will be able to update this coming weekend due to Thanksgiving as I will be with family, but the first weekend in December should have an update. Anyway, I know that there were some questions about Isabelle's powers and I'm going to do my best to answer them. Be warned, this is a pretty long A/N, but it is necessary to help clarify.**

 **First off, I didn't want her powers to be the typical powers I've seen numerous fanfics have for Bella. I wanted her to be a little different, yet have the same mental shield gift. I talked it over with my beta and we both agreed that the powers I have for her were definitely different. Now to clarify the powers!**

 **With the mental shield, it repels** _ **any**_ **other mental gifts, including mind reading, mind control, visions, etc. Empathic abilities, like Jasper's, are going to be affecting the physical body, not mentally. In my mind, Jasper's gift manipulates the neurosensors in the physical body, which means that none of it is happening in your mind, unlike Jane's ability to cause the illusion of pain.**

 **The gift of memory perception and the last gift of shielding memories are two powers that were pretty much required for the plot of the story. Memory perception only applies to humans as it allows her to take away and add memories. It's a bit similar to compulsion from Vampire Diaries in the sense that the vampires in the show/book are able to do the same. In my story, any memories that were altered as a human wouldn't affect them (as Isabelle wouldn't do anything to harm people with it), but if they were turned into a vampire, the memories would go back to the original state. However, because of her other gift of shielding memories of her and/or her involvement of said human, the memories would be locked behind Isabelle's shield until they were to come face to face with her. This is a completely passive ability and for the moment, Isabelle doesn't even realize what it truly does as she has yet to encounter a human that she knew that was turned. There might be a bit more information later in the story when this does happen and she is forced to learn the consequences of having the power.**

 **Now, the one that I know probably held the most confusion: the illusion power. This took me awhile to decide on mainly because for the way that I wanted the story to go, during the actions of Twilight, Isabelle needed to be "human" or at least appear as human. I did not want to change a whole lot for the first book as the major changes do not start until some time in New Moon. From now until that point is basically just setting up the rest of the story as there are key points during this time that are setting up for plot points later in the story, but you need to see how they developed, especially since Isabelle is a vampire acting like a human and not a human herself. She sees a lot more and a lot of what happens is how she is letting it play out. Yes, she can be quite manipulative in this regard, but again, it's only to further the story.**

 **Anyway, for the actual explanation of the power. The power takes away anything vampiric about her and replaces it with human qualities. Since her eyes are gold, they would appear whatever color her eyes were as a human (in this case, brown); since her skin sparkles as a vampire, the illusion takes that away and she is able to walk around during the day without fear; she doesn't have a heartbeat or blood running through her veins, so the illusion makes it sound like she does. The blood part, as one reviewer (Lauramari) pointed out, isn't completely necessary, but since the power takes EVERYTHING that is vampire and changes it, she has to have the illusion of blood. It didn't make sense to have everything else change, but that part not. It also forces Isabelle to be careful in getting in situations where she could get hurt to the point of shedding her blood because if she does, the illusion is shattered because it would only show the venom leaking from her and not blood. I'm not going into detail about the scent change in the A/N as it is a bit centric to the plot and you will find out why later in the chapter. Not going to give that part away! ;)**

 **Now, do remember that as a reader, you know now more details about the powers, but as of right now, only two or three people know what Isabelle's powers are and what they do. So with that, please enjoy the next chapter of A Forgotton Love! And do take a quick look at the A/N at the end!**

 **Chapter 7: Snowy Days**

When Isabelle arrived at the school and went to her classes, she immediately noticed that Edward was not there, but his siblings were. The glare from the blonde, Rosalie, had intensified and she had even received cold looks from the other two men, Jasper and Emmett, though Alice was still smiling brightly. Isabelle had no idea what was up with that chick, but she just ignored them for the time being, wanting to focus on her work.

A full week passed by before Edward had come back to the school and by that time, Isabelle had already made several friends that she didn't have issues hanging out with outside of school. Edward hadn't been in English as usual, but she noticed him sitting with his siblings at lunch and then saw him sitting in the chair next to her in Biology. She had paused for a split second when she saw him, but quickly moved towards her seat.

She pulled her stuff out for the class and was patiently waiting for Mr. Banner to begin talking when she heard a quiet, musical voice next to her.

"Hello," Edward said, causing her to turn to him with a raised eyebrow. "My name is Edward Cullen. I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan," he continued.

Isabelle stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what his game was. "Hi," she said. "How did you know to call me Bella? Most of the school has been calling me Isabella," she then asked, tilting her head.

A crooked grin that didn't look too bad on his face appeared. "My siblings told me. They said that they have you in at least one class. Alice says that you are a wonderful artist," he offered, keeping his golden eyes on her brown ones.

Isabelle simply gave him a smile before turning to the front and focusing as Mr. Banner started to speak about what they were going to do today. When she heard that they were going to be working as partners, Isabelle nearly groaned, but straightened up as she organized everything on the table quickly.

"Do you want to start or shall I?" she asked, glancing at him for a brief moment. A curious look appeared on his face before he gestured for her to start.

"Ladies first," he said, the crooked smile appearing once more.

Isabelle gave him a small smile in return before taking the first slide and glancing at it for a moment. "Prophase," she said easily, writing it down on the sheet.

"May I?" he asked, his hands gesturing to the microscope. Isabelle shrugged and moved it towards him so that he could see. After a moment, he nodded in agreement and at this Isabelle couldn't help but to smirk lightly. He switched the slides and focused the microscope to the best objective. It only took a moment before he spoke. "Anaphase."

"May I?" Isabelle countered, the smirk growing a little deeper as she looked at him. He returned the smirk before pushing it to her. One look through the eyepiece and she agreed, handing him the sheet to write it down. She switched the slide and focused it before saying that it was interphase. Without being asked, she shifted the microscope and wrote down the answer as he took a look.

The rest of the class passed by like a breeze, the two vampires going back and forth with slight banter as they finished before anyone else had even gotten halfway done. Taking a look around, Isabelle noticed Mike, one of the guys from the lunch group, and his partner kept flipping between the same two slides again and again, while another group had their book open under the table. She shook her head minutely before settling in her chair and getting out a book.

It wasn't long before Mr. Banner came to their table to see why they weren't working and when he saw the completed sheet, scrutinized their answers. "Have you done this lab before, Ms. Swan?" he asked, glancing at the brunette. She marked her page and nodded, looking up at him.

"My mother homeschooled me for the past few years, so whenever I was able to get something, we moved on. Because of that, I would be considered in an advanced placement program had I been in school," she explained on the spot, her story piecing together flawlessly.

"Well, I'm glad you two are partners," he said with a smile before continuing to walk around the classroom.

Before she could open her book back up, Edward spoke. "It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" he asked, glancing out the window. She followed his gaze, seeing that the snow that had been falling earlier that day had turned into rain and she shrugged.

"I'm not a huge snow or rain person," she said simply. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live then," he mused, causing a little smile to appear at the corners of her lips as she shrugged once more.

"Not really. I can tolerate rain and snow, I just don't prefer it." She ran a hand through her hair, pulling it out of her eyes. As she did, Edward got a whiff of her scent and she noticed him stiffening slightly out of the corner of her eyes, though his eyes stayed golden. _Interesting_ , she thought.

"Then why did you come here if you don't prefer rain?" Edward then asked, turning towards her fully. With a small sigh, she put her book down, realizing that he wasn't going to let her back to her book now that she was speaking to him.

"I spent the past 17 years thinking that my father didn't want anything to do with me. Last month, when my mother had a little bit too much to drink, I found out that she hadn't even told him that she was pregnant after she left him. I got upset with her and immediately came up here to spend the last two years of school with him before I went to go on to college," she explained, turning to face him a little more.

"And you said you were homeschooled?" he pointed out and she nodded.

"My mother, for all her faults, loved teaching, but not in a classroom setting like in school, and so from the time that I got to the age to start school, she taught me everything I needed to know. She challenged me every day with something new and when she got remarried, her husband would help out as well sometimes," she spoke, resting her cheek and chin against her hand.

Edward nodded thoughtfully before she suddenly felt a push against her shield. Not giving herself away, she used her power of reflection and realized that he was a mind reader, but because of her shield, he couldn't read her.

Her mind filled with his thoughts, which were changing so quickly that if she had truly been human, she wouldn't have been able to keep up. There were thoughts about his siblings, about her, her blood, her scent…. _Oh… Oh no…_ she thought and only centuries of being able to mask her emotions kept the shock off of her face. _How in the hell did I manage to make my scent call to his nature? How can I be his singer?!_

Withdrawing from his mind as her thoughts went wild, she blinked when the teacher called for everyone's attention. She turned towards the front, appearing attentive as he went through the slides with pictures on the board from the projector. She could see that Edward was tensed away from her once more and everything clicked into place now that she knew she was his singer and that was the reaction for last Monday.

It wasn't long before the bell rang and he was out of his seat and the room before she knew it and she shook her head. She gathered her things and left the room, heading to art. She was slightly nervous about being in the same room with Rosalie and Alice now that she knew about Edward's secret, but as she walked over to the room, she took a deep breath and let it go, knowing that there wasn't much she could do about it. If Edward did snap and bite her, her illusion would be shattered and he would realize that she was a vampire. It wasn't like she could change her scent now since the Cullen "children" knew it by heart by now and would be very suspicious if it suddenly changed without warning.

She rubbed her face, being careful not to mess up the light makeup she had one, before entering the classroom and not looking at the two vampires in the back. She kept to herself as art flew by, losing herself in the drawings and lessons for the day before she went to gym. The class went by without any incidents, Isabelle making herself look about average with her athletic ability.

Once school let out, Isabelle went to her truck and threw her bag into the passenger seat, ready to go home and relax with a nice, hot bath. As she closed the door, she felt eyes on her and she looked up to see Edward staring intently at her. She narrowed her eyes slightly before starting the truck and putting it in reverse. Almost too late did she see the Toyota behind her and stopped the car with a small huff and a low growl. She justed wanted to go home!

Once it was clear for her to reverse, she did so with ease and then started driving out of the parking lot, rolling her eyes when she saw Edward laughing out of the corner of her eyes. "Prick," she muttered underneath her breath as she turned the radio and started heading home.

As soon as she did, she started her daily routine of setting food out for Charlie, getting her homework done, and any chores that were urgent before she wrote a note for Charlie saying that she was taking a bath and if he needed her to just knock. She set it on the table where he put his keys, knowing he would see it, and then headed upstairs to start the water.

It wasn't long before she was able to undress and get into the hot water, sighing as she relaxed against the tub. The water was set to its hottest temperature and Isabelle loved it. She closed her eyes and sat in the water, humming slightly. Several hours passed before Isabelle finally got out of the bath. The water had cooled to room temperature by then, but she had been so comfortable that she didn't want to drain the water and get more hot water. She padded herself dry before wrapping the towel around her and heading to her room since Charlie wasn't home yet.

She got a tank top and yoga pants out of her dresser, slipping them on before heading downstairs to start cooking. She did remember to throw away the note since he wouldn't need it anymore. Not long after she started dinner, Isabelle heard Charlie's cruiser pull up and she glanced over at the door when he opened it up. "Hey, Dad!" she called out with a smile.

"Hey, Bells," he called back, unloading his guns and setting them down. "Sure smells good. What's for dinner?"

"Salmon with salted asparagus and baby red potatoes," she replied as she started setting his plate up.

"Oh, that sounds so good," he groaned as he walked into the kitchen, kissing her on the side of her head, before grabbing a beer.

"I'm probably going to just clean the kitchen and then head up to my room for the night," she told him before finishing his plate and handing it to him.

"Sounds good," he replied with a smile before taking his beer and plate to the living room like normal. Isabelle shook her head with a smile before she started to clean up the kitchen. It only took her about twenty minutes since she had to go at human speed and she waved goodnight to Charlie before heading up to her room. Closing the door, Isabelle laid down on her bed, closing her eyes and going into a meditative state that was similar to sleeping.

When she next opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was the fact that her room was bright. She narrowed her eyes as she stood up, stretching as she walked to the window. "Fuck," she muttered as she stared at the scene in front of her. A fine layer of snow covered everything, including her truck and the road, and all the rain from the day before had frozen during the night, covering the needles on the trees in beautiful patterns and coating the driveway and probably the road, making it a deadly ice slick.

"This will be fun," she groaned before getting ready for the day. As she walked out, she carefully made her way to the truck, trying to avoid the slipperiest patches as she opened the door to get the scraper out. She wiped as much of the snow off of the windshield as possible before using the barest amount of pressure to scrape the ice off so she could actually see. It took her about five to ten minutes before she deemed it good enough and made her way inside the truck.

Carefully, Isabelle backed out and onto the road, though it took a few tries due to the patches of ice, and was on her way to school. She pulled into a parking spot near the exit of the lot, not wanting to be stuck in the midst of everything when school let out later. She grabbed her bag and got out of the truck. Turning to lock the door, she noticed that there were snow chains on the tires and a small feeling of emotion welled up in the space where her heart used to be. _Bless Charlie's heart_ , she thought with a smile.

Then there was high pitched screech that made her wince before turning around and then freezing as she took in the scene. Edward stood four or five cars away from me, evidently having the same thought I had about getting out quick later. She catalogued the expression on his face, noting that it held a lot more horror and shock than the other students in the parking lot. Her eyes flicked to the screeching sound and her eyes widened as she realized that someone had lost control of their van due to the ice and was now careening towards her, brakes and tires locked up. It only took a second for her to predict the path the van would take and she cursed under her breath when she realized that she was standing directly in its path.

She didn't know what to do. She wouldn't be able to move out of the way fast enough at human speed and there were way too many eyes for her to use her vampire speed. As the van came closer, Isabelle felt a little bit of panic, knowing that if it hit her, the illusion would be shattered and her secret would come out. Then suddenly, she was being thrown to the ground, a hard body pinning her against the icy pavement. Inhaling slightly, she blinked in shock when she realized that it was Edward, but he had been too far away for him to have been there in time without using his vampire speed. But then that would mean that he would have risked his secret to protect her! The idiot!

Then she remembered that since she had caused herself to become his "singer", in his mind, if her blood spilled, he would probably go on a murderous rampage and slaughter the whole parking lot full of students. It was just a shit show all around. All they could do is just deal with the aftermath of it.

"Bella? Are you alright?" was spoken in her ear by a low and frantic voice. She blinked and remembered that she was still against the pavement. She nodded slowly, looking up at him with eyes of wonder and shock.

"You were by your car," she murmured and his face turned hard as he shook his head.

"No, I was standing next to you, Bella," he said, his voice flat, but serious. Isabelle shook her head, knowing that he thought she was still human and she would have to act like it.

"No, you weren't. No one was beside me by the time the car touched my truck and then you were suddenly there," she muttered furiously, looking up at him with narrowed eyes.

The gold in his eyes blazed as she spoke. "Please, Bella. Trust me," he pleaded.

"Will you promise to explain everything later?" she snapped as she could hear sirens coming closer. Someone must have called 911.

"Fine," he then replied, suddenly exasperated.

"Fine!" she repeated angrily before they sat there in stony silence as the sirens pulled into the parking lot and people started to swarm around the van, trying to pull it out enough to get the two out. Once they did, they were immediately put into the ambulance, though Edward had been able to get out being strapped into a stretcher for some reason. Isabelle noticed him speaking to one of the EMT's and after focusing for a moment, realized that he was saying that he thought she may have hit her head and have a concussion.

With that (fake) observation, Isabelle was forced into a neck brace and then strapped into the stretcher. She glared at Edward viciously as they closed the doors and sped towards the hospital.

 **Alrighty! So I hope my obserdly long A/N at the beginning clarified some things for you guys and if you have any further questions about her powers, please either send me a PM or leave it in a review and I will answer questions to the best of my ability in a PM to you directly. I've said all I'm going to say in the chapters of the story regarding powers. Everything else that I may have missed at the beginning of this chapter I will make sure I clarify during the story when it gets to that point unless it's something that I don't have planned and you are just curious.**

 **Any questions about the chapter contents itself, I will answer at the beginning of the next chapter unless otherwise stated, so stay tuned! As always, if you leave a review, you get a sneak peak at the next chapter! I do this so that it prompts me to make sure I have the next chapter done before publishing the previous one so I don't get stuck and leave my stories like I have done in the past. It's helping out so far. I am working on chapter 9 right now, which I will be trying to finish this week during my work schedule and I have to make sure my beta reads over it, which is another reason why I will not be updating until December. Again, the next update will be around the first weekend of December. I will send PM's out if needed, but I will not be publishing.**

 **Happy Thanksgiving!**


	8. Why

**Hey guys! I hope you had a good holiday! I ended up going to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving to see some family I hadn't seen in over a year and my cousin (who's in 4th grade) made me a card that told me how much she missed me and how she was thankful that we were cousins. Needless to say, I cried. Missed my little bug so much! Anyway, there weren't any questions from the last chapter, so without further ado, here is chapter 8 of "A Forgotten Love"! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8: Why**

After arriving at the hospital, there was a flurry of activity. As soon as they entered the building, Isabelle took a cautious deep breath and the scent of human blood filled her nostrils. She glanced to where it was coming from and she widened her eyes as she saw Tyler Crowley laying on a stretcher beside her in the emergency room. Bloodied bandages were wrapped around his head, the red seeping through slowly. He was unconscious, thankfully, since Isabelle knew that if he were awake, he would no doubt be apologizing up one wall and down the other and she really didn't want to deal with that.

The doors opened and she looked up, seeing that they were coming towards her and she rolled her eyes slightly as they told her they were going to take an X-Ray of her head. "There's nothing wrong! I didn't hit my head," she muttered, though she knew that she would be ignored. True to her word, they did the scan and nothing showed up and she was brought into a room off to the side.

"Can I leave now?" she asked the nurse before she walked out.

"That is up to the doctor," she said before leaving. It was only moments before the door opened once more and Edward stepped inside, a smirk on his face. Isabelle glared at him as he closed the door and leaned against the wall opposite of her.

"Why the fuck did you tell them I had a concussion? You know as well as I that I didn't hit my head when you pushed me to the ground," she said, staring at him with hard eyes. If he ended up blowing her cover, she would murder him. "Now they won't let me go."

He shrugged before pushing off the wall. "Don't worry about that, I came to spring you," he said, the smirk growing wider as the door opened once more and the room filled with a new vampire scent. She glanced to the door, her eyes widening slightly as she took in the sight of the newcomer dressed in doctor clothing.

The man had blonde hair with young facial features that were common with vampires and the golden eyes that came with drinking animal blood instead of human. She had wondered if they were drinking it by choice or if they were like her. Then she had decided that it was probably by choice judging by Edward's reaction to her scent.

"Doctor," Isabelle greeted with a bright smile as she sat on the bed, waiting for him to go ahead and say that she was free to go.

"Ms. Swan," he replied in an appealing voice that made her smile a little bit brighter. She did notice that Edward scowled a little bit at that and she smirked inwardly. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feel absolutely fine," she stated before lifting one shoulder. "But I'm pretty sure you'd like to see for yourself if that's true," she added with a slight chuckle.

Doctor Cullen let out a small laugh before looking at the scans of her head. "There is no concussion, that is true," he said, walking over to her and running his fingers through her hair to probe lightly around her skull. She didn't wince at all and he nodded slightly.

"Alrighty, well I don't feel any bumps and you don't have a concussion, so I say that as long as you take it easy in case there is anything that pops up later, you are good to go home. Your father is in the waiting room, so you can leave. Do come back if you start feeling dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all."

"No worries, doc," she stated, hopping off of the bed and grabbing the leather jacket she had been wearing earlier. "Pretty sure my dad will make me come back if there is anything wrong." She gave him another bright smile. "Though be grateful your son was standing right beside me. He has much faster reflexes than I and I shudder to think what would have happened if he hadn't been there."

"Oh, well, yes," Doctor Cullen agreed, suddenly preoccupied with the papers in front of him before leaving the room, presumably to go work on Tyler. As soon as the door closed, Isabelle's smile faded and she turned towards Edward, who now looked exasperated.

"Talk," she said, glaring at him.

"What do you want?" he said, his voice annoyed. He stared back at her with cold eyes, but that didn't frighten her.

"You owe me an explanation!" she fumed, inwardly praising her acting skills. If she were able to gain the trust of him telling her their secret, maybe she would be able to tell them hers.

"I saved your life - I don't owe you anything."

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at the resentment in his voice. "You promised me."

"Bella, you hit your head. You don't know what you're talking about."

Isabelle's temper flared then, actual annoyance flooding her as he insisted on saying that she hit her head when his father clearly checked that she hadn't. "There's nothing wrong with my head," she growled as her glare deepened.

He glared back at her as he spoke. "What do you want from me, Bella?"

"I want the truth. I want to know why I'm lying for you!" she argued.

"What do _you_ think happened?" he finally snapped, his arms crossing tightly.

She smirked inwardly as she exploded. "All I know is that you were nowhere near me when Tyler lost control. You were with your siblings at your car, _five_ spaces away. No matter how fast you are, it would be impossible for you to have gotten to me in so little time. That van was going to crush us and it didn't because of you. You stopped it with your hands and left dents in the side of it as well as my truck," she spoke, fury dripping off of her words.

He stared at me with an incredulous look in his eyes, but the expression on his face and body language was too tense and defensive for the look to be real.

"You think that I stopped a van with my bare hands? Who do you think I am? Superman?" His tone was skeptical and she knew that if she hadn't known the truth, she would have questioned herself. But as it was… Isabelle merely stared at him with narrowed eyes, mimicking his stance with her arms.

"No one will believe you, you know," he said in a mocking tone that made her grit her teeth.

"I'm not going to tell anyone," she said, speaking slowly as her irritation sizzled underneath the surface of her control. Her inner vampire was just begging her to let go and teach him a lesson, but she calmed herself enough for it to quiet down.

A look of surprise and shock filtered through his stoic expression. "Then why does it matter?"

"It matters to me. I don't like lying, so there better be a good reason why I am," she stated, which wasn't just part of her cover. She really didn't like to lie, but it was a part of her nature in order to keep her secret just that.

"Can't you just thank me and get over it?"

Isabelle scoffed. "Thanks," she said, but still stared at him with an expectant expression in her eyes.

He let out a growl then, running a hand through his hair. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"No."

"Then I hope you enjoy disappointment," he stated.

The pair scowled at each other for a few moments before Isabelle spoke. "Why did you even bother?" she asked, her voice frigid.

He paused at her question, and for a brief moment, his face was unexpectedly vulnerable. "I don't know," he whispered before he walked out of the room.

Isabelle let out a growl of frustration before following after him and went to the waiting room. She ignored everyone except Charlie, giving him pleading eyes to let her get out. Thankfully, he understood and the pair left the hospital. Once they got in the car, Isabelle glanced back at the hospital and saw Edward watching her leave from one of the windows. She shot him one more glare before staring straight ahead.

"You okay, kiddo?" Charlie asked, worry in his voice. Isabelle smoothed her expression before glancing at him with a soft smile.

"I'm alright. Nothing was wrong with me. Seems that Tyler was the only one to suffer injuries, unfortunately," she said, her smile turning into a small frown.

He let out a breath of relief as he started the cruiser and started home.

"You didn't call mom, did you?" Isabelle suddenly asked, glancing at him with slightly wide eyes.

He let out a small chuckle. "No, I didn't. I know how you feel about her at the moment and figured that you didn't need that stress on top of this."

Isabelle let her own breath of relief escape before she settled into the seat.

They drove home in comfortable silence and when they arrived, she told Charlie that she was going to go up to her room and relax. He nodded, stating that he would order pizza so she didn't have to worry about dinner that night. She kissed his cheek and went to her room before she lost it.

As soon as the door closed, she leaned against the door, laughing slightly at the events of the day. To think what a simple thing as icy roads could cause. She wondered what the Cullens were going to decide about Edward's actions. Would they leave or stay? Would they decide to stay and let her live or stay and kill her somehow?

Shaking her head, Isabelle pushed from the door and changed clothes, slipping under the covers as she grabbed her book and started reading. Before she knew it, Charlie knocked on her door to check on her before going to bed. She told him that she would be doing the same in a few minutes and they shared a smile and a good night before her door closed and she continued to read for another hour or so before setting the book down and getting comfortable.

With ease, she slipped into her meditative state until morning came.

When she arrived at school the next day, she realized quickly that she was the center of attention and when lunch arrived, all she wanted to do was go home. She was getting tired of everyone asking if she was okay and if there was anything that they could do. It was grating on her nerves and she just wanted to leave.

Lunch passed and when she walked into the biology classroom, Edward was already there. Isabelle let out a small breath before straightening and sitting down next to him. She waited a moment or two to see if he would do anything other than moving away from her and not breathing. When it was apparent that he wasn't going to, she frowned slightly.

"Hello, Edward," she said, her voice soft and pleasant. Her irritation from the day before with his responses had cooled overnight and she realized that since he thought she was human, he would try all he can to discredit her and keep her from learning his secret.

Edward turned his head a fraction towards her without meeting her gaze, nodded once, and then looked away immediately.

That was the last contact they shared outside of the frosty and silent partner work for the next month or so. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes several times throughout the day, though, and she noticed his eyes progressively getting darker each day that passed. During class, she made sure that she gave him no more notice than he gave her and there was constant tension running between them every day.

Several of the guys that sat at the group lunch table had noticed the tension and she knew that some were happy about that. Mike especially, since she could tell that he thought that since Edward had saved her, that maybe she would have been impressed and interested in him. He started to talk to her even more, taking to sit on the edge of the biology table before class started, ignoring Edward as much as he was ignoring them.

Then, one day while Isabelle and Jessica were walking to lunch together, Jessica made Isabelle aware of an event that was happening in two weeks: the girl's choice spring dance.

"Oh, that's nice!" Isabelle said with a smile, glancing at the girl beside her.

"Yeah… I was wondering if it would be okay with you if I asked Mike to go with me," she replied, not looking at Isabelle, who blinked in surprise.

"Why would you need my permission?" Isabelle giggled lightly. "He and I aren't a thing."

Jessica looked up at that, surprise in her face. "Are you sure? You weren't planning on asking him?" she persisted, not believing her.

"No, Jess. Even if I had been told about the dance before, I wouldn't have asked him. I'm not planning on going," Isabelle assured her with a slightly amused smile. "You have fun with Mike."

The two girls continued to lunch, Jessica noticeably happier. Unfortunately, when she next saw Jessica, she wasn't her normal gushing self. Isabelle had a feeling that Mike may have turned her down and she felt bad for the girl.

Her feeling was strengthened when they arrived at lunch the next day and Jessica sat far away from Mike as possible, talking animatedly with Eric for once. Mike himself was unusually quiet, even as he walked with Isabelle to Biology like normal. He didn't say anything until she was sat in her seat, he perched on her desk, and Edward sitting silently beside them like normal.

"So," Mike started, looking at the floor. "Jessica asked me to the spring dance."

"That's great!" Isabelle gushed, genuinely happy for them. "You'll have a lot of fun with her."

"Well…." He floundered for a moment as he examined her smile, clearly not happy with her response. This made her heart sink slightly, having a feeling she knew what was coming. "I told her I had to think about it."

"Why would you do that?" Isabelle questioned, her tone filled with disapproval, though she was glad that he hadn't give her an absolute no. She blinked as his face turned red and he looked down once more. _Oh no… please don't…_

"Well… I was wondering… if you might be planning to ask me," he mumbled and her eyes closed for a moment as she let out a quiet sigh.

"Mike, you should tell her yes," she said, looking at him. Mike's eyes glanced in Edward's direction as he spoke.

"Did you already ask someone?"

Isabelle shook her head. "No, I'm not going to go to the dance at all," she said gently. His head snapped to hers at that.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"I'm going out of town that weekend," she replied, sitting back in her seat.

"Can't you go some other time?" he pleaded and she shook her head.

"Sorry, but I can't," she said. "You shouldn't make Jess wait any longer. It's rude."

"Yeah, you're right," Mike mumbled, dejected as he started to walk to his seat. Isabelle looked after him with a bemused look on her face before shaking her head. She straightened, noticing that Mr. Banner was about to start the class.

"Bella?"

 **Alright! Here we go! We are starting to get into the part in Twilight were Bella is trying to figure out what Edward is, but we all know that Isabelle already does, so what changes are going to be made? I will say that I'm most likely going to start doing key scenes that are needed to be shown pretty soon. I have no plans on trying to rewrite the whole book and make you guys sit through that, so don't you worry! As always, leave questions/comments in the review box and I will send you a sneak peak of the next chapter! Any questions will either be answered at the beginning of the next chapter or in a responding PM, depending on the content and whether or not I feel it needs to be brought to attention for my other readers. Enjoy!**

 **Katie**


	9. Friends or Not?

**Hey guys! There weren't any questions that I can answer without giving stuff away in the story, so the note is going to be fairly short. But, I do have extremely good news! I spent the weekend at my beta's house (because she is also my best friend) and we managed to work on figuring out the rest of the story up until a certain point. Everything is written out and just needs to be converted into chapters. Anyway, here is the next chapter! Enjoy!**

 **Also, I am re-uploading this chapter for a little edit in the end A/N because it was needed, so check it out!**

 **Chapter 9: Friends Or Not?**

"Bella?" came that musical voice that had surprised her. Not because of the sound or the word, but the fact that he actually spoke to her.

Isabelle turned her head towards Edward, a glare in her eyes and eyebrows raised. "What? Are you speaking to me again?" She made sure to keep her voice down since class had started, but she also made sure to keep one ear on the teacher in case he did call on her.

Edward's lips twitched, fighting a smile, and she noticed that she had to keep amusement off of her face. The "human" part of her had to act angry and indifferent to an extent, but the vampire side of her was enjoying the game and she could definitely see how her actions looked to Edward considering she had been in his place once, a long time ago.

"No, not really," he admitted and Isabelle scoffed lightly. "Then what do you want, Edward?" she asked, narrowing her eyes even further.

"I'm sorry." He sounded sincere, coupled with the look in his golden eyes that were so similar to her natural color. "I'm being very rude, I know. But it's better this way, really."

She stared at him for a moment, knowing that he was truly serious. "Better for who? You or me?" she muttered underneath her breath before speaking slightly louder. "I don't know what you mean…"

"It's better if we aren't friends," he said, making no acknowledgment of her previous words other than a slight tilt to the corner of his lip. "Trust me."

At that, she rolled her eyes, having heard that phrase before, though it had come from her own lips the last time. "It's too bad you didn't figure that out earlier. You could have saved yourself all of this regret," she hissed, true annoyance coloring her tone. Yes, she knew that he was doing this on purpose because he was trying to make sure she didn't find out about his secret, but still. He didn't have to be such an ass about it. She ignored the fact at the moment that she had been the same way before.

Keeping her eyes on Edward's face, she saw the look in his eyes and knew that he was caught off guard by her words and tone, but Mr. Banner had asked Isabelle a question and she turned towards him. "The Krebs Cycle, sir," she responded and kept staring forward, indicating that their conversation was done. She ignored any advances he made to get her attention and he finally gave up.

When the bell rang, Isabelle immediately gathered her stuff and in her haste to get away from him before she said something she would later regret, she caught the toe of her boot on the door jamb and her books fell from her arms. She stared at them for a moment, seriously contemplating leaving them there, but she sighed and bent to pick them up.

Edward had grabbed the last book she had been reaching for and she straightened, glaring at him. "May I have my book back?" she asked, her voice flat. His eyes narrowed on hers for a moment, but didn't hand it to her. "What did you mean by regret?" he asked, his tone confused.

She stared at him for a moment before letting out a huff. "Regret from saving me. You should have just let the stupid van hit me. At least then you wouldn't have had me asking questions," she hissed and in his stunned stupor, grabbed her book from his hand. She put the books in her bag, moving out of the way from the door so others could leave.

When he finally spoke, he almost sounded mad. "You think I regret saving your life?"

"What else am I supposed to think?" Isabelle replied sharply, staring at him with hard eyes. "The way you're acting leads me nowhere else, so yes, I know you regret it."

"You don't know anything." He was definitely angry at her words.

"Neither do you," she retorted before walking away to go to her next class, art. She entered the room and immediately noticed Rosalie and Alice staring at her from the back, the sisters being the only people in the room other than her. Alice had a grin on her face, but Rosalie was glaring at her with death in her eyes.

"Don't even start, Blondie," Isabelle snarled, her eyes glaring at her.

Rosalie looked taken aback and had opened her mouth to say something, but then others had entered the classroom and she shut her mouth with an audible snap. Isabelle smirked at her before sitting at her seat.

Thankfully, the teacher, once she arrived, had decided that today was going to be an actual lesson instead of just having them draw something, which meant that there was going to be no room for talking. Art had always fascinated Isabelle and she actually paid attention in this class and she took notes, despite the fact that she had a near photographic memory as a vampire and didn't need to.

Once the bell rang, she gathered her things at a more sedate pace than her previous class and headed out to the hall, intending on going straight to her truck and ignoring pretty much everyone. However, as she went outside, she noticed someone leaning against her truck. She let out a small growl of frustration as she recognized who it was.

"Hey, Eric," she called as she got closer. She already had her keys out and started to unlock the door.

"Hi, Bella," he replied, an exuberant grin on his face, though he had a slightly uncomfortable edge in his voice. She hid a groan, having a feeling that she knew why he was there.

"What's up?" she asked, opening the door and throwing her bag into the passenger seat.

"Uh… Well, I was just wondering, if you would go to the spring dance with me?" His voice broke on the last word.

Isabelle turned to look at him, a convincing confused look on her face. "I thought it was girl's choice," she said.

"Well, yeah," he admitted, shame covering his face.

Isabelle shook her head slightly with a warm smile on her face. "Thank you for asking me, but I'm not going to the dance. I'm going to be out of town that weekend." Her voice was soft as she let him down.

"Oh," he said. "Well, maybe next time."

She didn't say anything, but gave him another smile. He waved goodbye to her and slouched back toward the school. She let out a breath before she heard a low chuckle and she glanced at the front of her truck with narrowed eyes.

Edward was walking past her truck, looking straight forward with his lips pressed together. She knew it was him who had laughed at her situation and she rolled her eyes, hopping into the truck and closing the door. She could only pray that nothing else prevented her from leaving the parking lot. She revved the engine and reversed out into the aisle and had put it in drive when a silver Volvo slid smoothly out of a parking space two down from her and cut her off.

It was Edward and he stopped for his family, who were walking towards them, but still by the cafeteria. For a moment, Isabelle considered taking out the rear end of the shiny car, but knew there were way too many witnesses around them. She glanced in her rearview mirror and noticed a line starting to form. Directly behind her, Tyler Crowley was in recently acquired used Sentra, waving.

Isabelle didn't acknowledge him, too aggravated by Edward, and stared straight ahead, glaring at Edward's car. Suddenly, there was a knock on her window and she stared at Tyler who had a bright smile on his face. "Bloody hell," she swore, the look in his eyes letting her know exactly why he was there. She rolled down the window, looking at him.

"I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen." Her tone was annoyed and he could tell just by looking at her.

"Oh, I know - I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped here." His smile turned into a grin.

This could not be happening.

"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he continued, confidant that I would say yes.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to be in town," she replied, her voice a little sharp. She had to remember that it wasn't her fault that Mike and Eric had used up her quota of patience for the day due to the stupid dance.

"Yeah, Mike said that," he admitted. Isabelle stared at him with wide eyes. "Then why-"

He shrugged. "I was hoping you were just letting him down easy."

She took that back. It was completely his fault.

"Sorry, Tyler," she said, working to hide her irritation. "I really am going out of town."

"That's cool. We still have prom."

With that, he turned around and headed back to his still running car before she could respond, a look of shock on her face. Slowly, she turned back to the front and saw Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper sliding into the Volvo. She looked into their rearview mirror and caught Edward's eyes as he stared straight at her, shaking with laughter. She knew that he had heard every word and if her thoughts were true about him being a mind reader, then he would have known Tyler was going to ask her to the dance.

Her foot itched towards the gas pedal… one little bump wouldn't hurt them, just the glossy silver paint job. She revved the engine, but they were all in and Edward sped away. She shook her head as she finally started heading home.

When she arrived, she decided to make chicken enchiladas for Charlie's dinner, knowing that he would have some leftovers to take to work with him instead of eating out like he normally did. While she was simmering the onions and chilies, her cell phone rang and she was almost afraid to answer it, but she knew that it could have been Charlie.

Thankfully, it was Jessica calling to let her know that Mike had caught her after school to accept her invitation to go to the dance. Isabelle jenuined celebrated with her, although briefly, as she wanted to call Angela and Lauren to tell them. After a spot of brilliance, Isabelle casually suggested that maybe Angela could ask Eric and Lauren could ask Tyler since she had heard that they were both still available. Jessica thought that was a great idea and had asked her one more time if she wanted to go to the dance. Isabelle politely declined, giving her the same excuse she had given the three boys.

Not long after finishing the enchiladas and setting them in the oven, Charlie came home while she was doing homework at the table. He seemed suspicious when he came home and smelled the green peppers, which she didn't blame him considering that she had heard that the closest edible Mexican food was in Seattle. However, he was a cop, even if just a small town cop, so he was brave enough to take the first bite after pulling them out. He seemed to like it. It made Isabelle happy since she couldn't taste the food herself and would have no idea if it was good or not.

"Hey, dad," she asked when he was almost done and she was finishing up her homework.

"Yeah, Bells?" he replied, looking up at her with a curious look.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be out of town for the weekend next week. One of my friends from Phoenix is going to be in Seattle and I wanted to catch up with them," she said, not really giving room for him to argue.

He smiled and nodded. "Just be careful. Seattle is a big city. You could get lost," he warned and Isabelle hid a smile.

"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle, plus I can read a map. I'll be fine," she said, laughing slightly.

"So you won't be going to the dance?" he checked and Isabelle hid a laugh in a cough. Only in a town this small would a _father_ know when the high school dances were.

"No, dad," she said. "I don't know when I'll next see my friend and there are plenty more dances to go to later." He smiled at that and the conversation ended.

The next morning, Isabelle parked as far away from the Volvo as possible, not wanting to put herself in the path of temptation and end up owing him a new car. Not that she couldn't afford it, however. She got out of the cab and as she did, the keys fell out of her pocket and into a puddle. She shook her head and bent to pick them up, but a white hand flashed in front of her and grabbed it before she could. Slightly startled, she stood straight and blinked as she saw Edward leaning casually against the truck.

"I thought you were supposed to be pretending that I don't exist…" she stated, crossing her arms as she stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Also, what was up with the traffic jam yesterday? Are you trying to irritate me to death?"

"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance." He snickered and Isabelle's eyes narrowed as he continued before she could say anything. "And I'm not pretending you don't exist."

"Oh, so you are trying to irritate me to death?" she shot back. "Since Tyler's van didn't do the job?"

Anger flashed in his tawny colored eyes, letting her know that he was actually getting upset with her accusations. His lips pressed into a hard line, all signs of humor gone.

"Bella, you are utterly absurd," he said, his low voice cold.

Isabelle blinked as she felt her palms tingle. She truly wanted to slap the shit out of him, but she knew that if she did, she would "hurt" her human-like hand or at least have to act like it. If she didn't, then he would be suspicious about her and she couldn't have that. Not yet at least. Resisting the urge, she grabbed her keys from him and walked away, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Wait!" he called to her but she ignored him, sloshing through the rain. He kept next to her, easily keeping pace.

"I'm sorry, that was rude," he said as they walked. "I'm not saying that is isn't truce, but it was rude to say it anyway," he continued.

She cut her eyes to the side with a glare. "Why don't you leave me alone?" she grumbled.

"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me," he chuckled. He seemed to have recovered his humor and that put her on her guard.

"What is it?" she asked, stopping to look at him with caution in her brown eyes.

"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday - you know, the day of the spring dance-"

"Are you trying to be _funny_?" she exploded, a furious expression on her face as she took in his words.

His eyes were wickedly amused. "Will you please allow me to finish?"

Isabelle had to bite her lip and clasp her hands together so she wouldn't be tempted to hit him. She never realized how violent of a person she was generally until she met Edward Cullen. He seemed to push all her buttons and not in the good way.

"I heard you say that you were going to Seattle that day and I was wondering if you wanted a ride."

That was unexpected. She blinked and tilted her head. "How did you hear that I was going to Seattle?" she asked, wondering how he was going to talk his way out this one. There was only one person she had told where she was going and Edward was defintely not around when she told Charlie.

A confused look appeared on his face. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You told Mike, Eric, and Tyler that you were going there."

Isabelle shook her head. "No, I said I was going out of town. The only person who knew where I was going to be was my dad and you were definitely not at my house for that conversation. So how did you know?" she stated, shifting her position.

He floundered for several moments, not having expected her reply. She shook her head and started to walk away once more. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that his siblings were standing by the doors to the school, muttering to themselves and eyeing the pair. She huffed slightly.

"Bella, wait up," she heard Edward call behind her.

With an exasperated sigh, she turned once more. "What, Edward? You also need to make up your mind. You say that you don't want to be my friend, but here you are, offering a ride to me. Non-friends don't do that," she said.

"I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be," he defended, frowning slightly. "It would be more… _prudent_ for you not to be my friend, but I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Bella." His eyes were intense as he uttered that last sentence, his voice smouldering.

"Will you go with me to Seattle?" he asked once more.

Isabelle stared at him for a moment, letting the silence grow. "No," she finally said. "I'm going out for the weekend, not just the day. I'm also meeting a friend, so no, I do not need a ride. Thank you for the offer. See you in class." With that, she walked away, ignoring any reply he may have had. As she walked closer to the doors of the school, she noticed that a few of the Cullen siblings were laughing. Even Rosalie seemed to fighting a smirk at Isabelle's reply.

Isabelle couldn't help but to smirk lightly before passing them and heading to class. The morning passed in a blur, ignoring the various Cullens that were in her classes as well as Edward's attempts to talk during English. She continued to ignore him until she arrived at lunch and she noticed almost immediately that while Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett were sitting at their normal table, Edward was sitting by himself several tables away. She blinked as he noticed her and gestured for her to join him at the table. With a slightly frustrated sigh, she grabbed a bottle of water and walked over to him, giving her friends an apologetic look as she passed their table and stopped in front of Edward.

"What do you want?" she asked, resigned to him not leaving her alone. She should have expected it with her somehow being his singer, which she still had to figure out how she managed to do that. She would think on it later.

"Why don't you sit with me today?" he asked, smiling up at her. Slowly and with caution, Isabelle sat down, watching him. He didn't say anything further, acting like he was waiting for her to say something.

"This is… different," she finally said, leaning back in her seat, her water already forgotten. It didn't matter anyway, since she couldn't drink it.

"Well…" he paused for a moment before the rest of his words followed in a rush. "I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

Silence followed for a moment, Isabelle genuinely confused by his statement. "You know I have no idea what you mean," she pointed out, crossing her arms.

He smiled at that. "I know. I think your friends are angry with me for stealing you," he said, abruptly changing the subject.

She shrugged. "They'll survive," she said, feeling their stares boring into her back. Then her cell phone chimed, letting her know that she had a text message. She pulled her phone out and glanced at it.

 **MR will be at Seattle that weekend regardless of you going with him or separate. If you go by yourself, something will happen. Not sure bad or good. Xoxo**

Isabelle rolled her eyes with a slight smile as she sent a quick text back before glancing at Edward, who was staring at her phone as if he wished to read the text. She closed the screen and slid the phone back in her pocket.

"So, what brought all this on?" she asked, getting back to the subject.

"I told you. I got tired of trying to stay away from you. So I'm giving up," he stated, still smiling with a look of curiosity in his eyes but also a look of seriousness there too.

"Giving up?" she echoed, tilting her head.

"Yes, giving up trying to be good. I'm just going to do what I want now and let the chips fall where they may," he replied, his smiling fading as a hard edge crept into his voice.

At that, Isabelle felt that she was starting to get what he was saying. As a vampire, he was supposed to stay away from humans, but he was giving up, which meant that he wanted to be near her. She did have to admit that he did have pretty good control considering that she was his singer and he hadn't taken a bite out of her yet. Though if he had tried, he would have been in for a rude awakening.

"You lost me again," she stated, shaking her head. She had to continue playing the innocent and naive human.

His crooked smile reappeared. "I always say too much when I'm talking to you - that's one of the problems."

She shook her head. "So, in plain English, are we friends now?" she asked, leaning forward slightly and wrapping her hands around the bottle of water, rolling it between them.

Edward gave her a grin. "Well, we can try, I suppose. But I'm warning you now that I'm not a good friend for you." Behind his smile, the warning was real. However, he didn't know that neither was she for him. "Your boyfriend seems to think I'm being unpleasant to you - he's debating whether or not to come break up our fight," he then stated amusedly, holding back a snicker.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "I don't know who you are talking about, but I'm sure you're wrong," she replied, sitting back in her seat once again. She glanced at the large clock in the lunchroom and noticed that they had about ten or so minutes left before they would need to head to Biology.

"I'm not. I told you, most people are easy to read."

"Except me, or course." She couldn't help but to feel smug about that little bit. It meant that he couldn't read her mind because he couldn't get through her shield unless she wanted him to, which she did not.

"Yes. Except for you." His mood shifted suddenly, a brooding look in his eyes. "I wonder why that is."

If Isabelle had been anyone else or even human, rather, she would have had to turn away from the intensity of his stare. She didn't say anything due to the fact she didn't feel like it warranted it and continued to mess with her bottle.

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, distracted at her moving fingers.

Isabelle shook her head. "I'm on a special diet that the school can't cater for. I eat when I get home," she said. "You?" she asked, glancing at the empty table in front of him.

"Actually, I'm the same as you. My siblings and I have a condition that forces to eat only certain things, so we typically don't eat while we are at school," he replied. His expression was as if he were enjoying some private joke, one that Isabelle could understand and had to fight a smile.

"You and your siblings?" she asked, tilting her head as she found a loophole in his words. "I thought you were all adopted. At least, that's what Jessica told me."

At her words, he stiffened, realizing his blunder and was trying to think of something to say when the bell rang to go to class. "Well, we have to get to class. Are you coming?" she asked suddenly, standing up and glancing at him.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not going to class today," he replied, his voice low.

"Why not?"

"It's healthy to ditch class now and then." He smiled up at her, but she could see that he was troubled by her words. She should probably back off a little bit on trying to make him slip up. She didn't want to alienate him from her. She was having too much fun playing with him.

"I'll see you later then," she said, waving to him before catching up with Mike and Angela as they were leaving the room. She noticed that Mike had a resentful look on his face while Angela had a surprised and slightly awed look. She glanced at her friend curiously and Angela mouthed the word later and Isabelle nodded.

They entered the classroom and Isabelle took her seat at the empty lab table that a white box was sitting on. She glanced at it curiously, wondering what they were going to be doing today. Once the teacher, Mr. Banner, had arrived, he immediately started the lesson.

"Okay, guys. I want you all to take one piece from each box," he said as he produced a pair of rubber gloves from the pocket of his lab jacket and pulled them on. The sharp sound of the gloves snapping against his wrists sounded a little ominous to Isabelle. Then her stomach dropped at his next words. "The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend, so I thought you should all know your blood type. Those of you who aren't eighteen yet will need a parent's permission if you want to donate - slips are at my desk."

 _Shit._

 **Alrighty! So, that was.. Something! Is Edward starting to get suspicious of her? Who was the text from? It's one of Isabelle's friends, but which one? What about the lesson in Biology? How is she going to handle the blood? Find out in the next chapter! Don't forget to review for a sneak peak! Also, I will not be posting until after the New Year because of the holidays and I also need to catch up on my chapters and with my work schedule, it's been slow going. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you have a good end to 2017!**


	10. Ditching

**Hey guys! I am so sorry for the long wait for the next chapter, but my beta and I had too much stuff going on and I've been waiting on her to check the chapters I have written, but she's been too busy as of late, so this chapter is unbeta-ed. Any mistakes are all mine and please feel free to point out any noticeable ones out so that I can fix them! Read the A/N at the bottom for an update regarding my story! For now, enjoy the next chapter of "A Forgotten Love"!**

 **Chapter 10: Ditching**

"The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend, so I thought you should all know your blood type."

Isabelle inwardly cursed as she heard what the lesson was for. No wonder Edward was skipping today. The scent of blood would be heavy in the air. It was a wonder how she hadn't noticed the scent earlier since he would have done the lesson earlier in the day with his other classes. Thankfully, it didn't bother her as she couldn't drink human blood, but she needed a way to get out of doing the lesson. If she had to prick her finger, her illusion would be shattered and she would be screwed. She raised her hand, waiting for Mr. Banner to notice her as he was helping a student after explaining what to do.

He noticed her hand and came over to her. "Yes, Bella?" he asked with a smile that she returned.

"I already know my blood type, Mr. Banner," she said, leaning forward slightly. "Is there any way for me to work on something else?"

He thought for a moment before frowning. "No, not really. Tomorrow we start a new section, so I can't give you any assignments. If you'd like you can go to the library and work on anything other work you need," he replied with a nod.

"Thank you, sir," she exclaimed softly as she knew that he normally wouldn't do that. However, in the little time she had been in his class, she had become one of his favorite students mostly because she already knew the work and didn't have to be supervised like most of the others in her class.

He nodded before going to someone else who had a question. She grabbed her bag, not have taken anything out of it yet and left the classroom unnoticed by her peers. She walked along the empty hallways, humming under her breath a lullaby she remembered her human mother singing to her as a child.

Instead of heading to the library like she was told, she headed outside near the arts wing and sat at a picnic table. She knew that Mr. Banner wouldn't send someone to check on her as he didn't have to worry about it. She sat her bag next to her on the seat and pulled out her headphones, iPod, and some homework from her earlier classes. She was thoroughly enjoying history due to the fact that most of the stuff that they were learning, she had personally witnessed and it was funny to see what they thought was truth or fiction compared to the real thing. She did notice that Jasper and Emmett had smirks on their faces during the classes so she imagined that they must have felt the same way as she did. She had no idea how old they were, but regardless, there was going to be some history they had lived through or else they wouldn't have been able to control themselves around humans.

English was interesting in the sense that she loved the classic books and, because she always answered questions correctly when called upon, even the obscure ones, and always had her work completed on time, the teacher let her be most of the time. She had explained her knowledge away as being a huge literature geek, which was technically true. It was also interesting in the sense that it was her first class of the day with Edward, though he couldn't speak to her since they were on opposite sides of the room. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes and it was amusing to see the facial expressions flitting across his face as he read the thoughts around him. The expressions were so fleeting that had she been human, she probably wouldn't have even noticed the changes.

Then came her third class of the day: trigonometry. That was one class that she disliked. Not because of math itself, but because the Board of Education constantly changed ways of doing math instead of keeping it simple and having kids actually be interested in the course. Instead of doing A+B=C, it was now xA - xB = C or something like that. While she understood the fact that they wanted to challenge students' minds, the way they went about things just irritated her. However, because she had the mental capacity of understanding everything as a vampire, the class flew by with ease, even if she did have Blondie in the class with her. Thankfully, the situation with her was the same with Edward in English. They were on opposite sides of the room and couldn't talk, though Isabelle would have had to have been blind to not notice the glares that were sent her way from the bombshell.

Then there was Biology with Edward, the last class she had with him and the only class she had that enabled her to talk to any of the Cullens easily other than Art, which didn't have assigned seating. Edward confused her as she couldn't understand what drew him to her other than her scent. She honestly didn't understand and it frustrated her. And with how her scent was currently, she knew it was a side effect of her illusion power, but she just had to figure out why it did what it did. It was like she knew the reason at the tip of her tongue, but couldn't quite grasp what exactly it was. The only thing she knew for sure was that her scent, which was basically a slightly enhanced version of her human scent with the sweetness of a vampire, which the illusion took away, had caused her to become Edward's singer.

She imagined that was the reason why Rosalie was so angry at Isabelle. If she was Edward's singer, then if he had attacked and killed her, they would have been forced to move and from what she understood, they had just moved to the town about two years or so before she arrived. Not a lot amount of time for a vampire and she could definitely see the appeal of living in Forks, Washington. There was clouds covering the sun 75% of the time, which took care of the sparkling, and since they were vegetarian vampires, there was an abundance of wildlife in Washington state itself, plus Canada if the animal population ever grew too thin.

Suddenly, there was a tap on her shoulder. "Bella?"

Isabelle jumped severely, so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard anyone approach her. She pulled an earbud out and glanced at who had joined her. To no one's surprise, Edward had found her and wanted to speak to her. She blinked at him for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Edward?" she asked, glancing at her cell phone to check the time. Only half the period had passed, so he wasn't grabbing her attention to tell her to go to class. She could only wonder what he wanted with her then, especially since he had told her that he was ditching class. She had assumed that it would have been for the rest of the day, but evidently she was wrong.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked, sitting across from her without asking her. She shot a glare at him for a moment before letting it fade away. "I thought you weren't ditching class." He had an amused grin on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Banner's lesson for the day is figuring out blood types. I just so happen to already know what mine is, so he let me skip the lesson for today since we are starting a new section tomorrow," she explained, pausing her music and glancing down at her papers to see if she had managed to do anything during the time that she was lost in thought. Thankfully, a worksheet for Trigonometry was done and so was one for English. All she had to do now was a few math problems from her textbook and reading for English and History. "What about you? I thought you _were_ ditching," she then asked, her own smile appearing at her words.

"I was ditching," he pointed out, chuckling slightly. "I was sitting in my car listening to a CD when I noticed you sitting over here. What are you working on?"

Isabelle glanced down at her papers once more, knowing that it was obvious what she had been doing, but appreciated him asking instead of assuming. "Getting a head start on my homework so I don't have to as much when I get home. Also have to figure out what to fix for Charlie's dinner tonight," she replied, her last thought about dinner made absentmindedly.

"Why do you call him Charlie?" he asked, tilting his head as he leaned forward. "I've noticed you switching between Charlie and dad."

Isabelle blinked in surprise before letting out a small laugh. "Habit. As you know, my mom never told him that he had a daughter and was content in letting me believe that he had run out on us when she was pregnant. So I didn't really grow up with a steady father as my mom went through boyfriends like they were candy. It felt like every few weeks or months, there was a new guy walking around our house," she explained easily, not giving any detection of her lies. It was for the best, at least for now. She may tell him the truth later, but she was still undecided.

"That must have been rough," Edward sympathized, taking one of her hands into his. She felt a small jolt at the contact that surprised her and when he noticed, he pulled away abruptly, straightening in his seat.

"It wasn't so bad," she said, shaking her head and the feeling off. She would dwell on it later. "There were a few that I genuinely liked and would have been fine with if my mom had decided to settle down. I am still in touch with a couple of them," she continued, biting her lip slightly.

"Was that who texted you during lunch?" he inquired. Isabelle couldn't help but to laugh. If only he knew.

"No, that was a friend of mine from back home, the one I'm meeting in Seattle. He's like a brother to me," she stated, still chuckling. That part was true at least. He wasn't like a brother, though. More like a great-something-nephew. She glanced at her phone and realized that it was almost time for the bell to ring.

Isabelle started gathering her stuff and putting it back in her bag before straightening. "Bell's about to ring. I'm going to go ahead and start heading to my next class. I'll see you around, Edward," she said with a soft smile before walking away and leaving him there. When she got to the doors, she turned back to look at him and noticed that he hadn't moved and was watching her with a curious smile on his face. She smiled once more before heading into the building. As she did, the bell rang and doors opened, flooding the hallways with students. She didn't try to fight her way through the throng of people to get to her class, simply weaving through the pockets of space and people like a ballerina.

With ease, she slipped into the arts classroom and settled down at her normal seat after greeting the teacher with a smile and a hello. It was long before she noticed Alice and Rosalie entering the room, arguing about something that Isabelle didn't particularly care about until she heard something that made her freeze. Curiosity piqued, she didn't change what she was doing, which had been reading one of her novels, but listened to the low and quick voices.

"She is a threat, Alice!" Rosalie hissed. "Edward shouldn't be getting close to her. If the Volturi find out, we could all be dead!"

"I don't see that happening, you know that, Rose," Alice replied, her voice still bubbly, but with an edge of tension.

Rosalie couldn't help but to laugh scornfully. "And what do you _see_ exactly, Alice? It's definitely not her. You said so yourself. Her future is black and soon, ours will be too if we don't stop him."

They stopped talking due to the fact that the teacher had come back followed by a couple of the other students in the class. Isabelle focused back to herself, reeling slightly. So, Alice could see the future, but not hers, which was courtesy of her shield, and there was someone named Volturi that was evidently important enough to raise high concern for Rosalie. Isabelle didn't believe that the Volturi they had been talking about was the same as the Volturi she knew and married. There was no way for it to be. Marcus and his brothers were dead for good and weren't coming back.

And even if they _were_ alive, she knew Marcus would have come back for her, especially since she was pregnant when he had left. Shaking her head slightly to get rid of those thoughts, knowing that she would just get herself depressed about her lost love, and focused on the teacher once the bell rang and class started. They were going to start working on a painting for an upcoming art show or something in Portland and it would be required that they be there, which she didn't have an issue with.

Isabelle thought about what she wanted to paint and decided on one of the villages she had visited awhile back and started sketching it out on a piece of paper to give to the teacher for approval. It took the whole class period and once she was done, she stood up and gave the sheet to her teacher before grabbing her stuff and walking out as the bell rang. They would find out tomorrow whether or not they were allowed to do what they had sketched out.

As she walked to her truck, ignoring the Cullen's gathered around the Volvo, Isabelle's attention was grabbed by someone yelling her name. She turned around and bit back a groan when she saw it was Mike. She paused, glancing behind him to see a group of their friends congregating near each other, watching them. "Hey, Mike," she said with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Bella. I was wondering if you would be interested in going down to the beach this weekend with me and the gang," he asked, hands sticking in his pockets as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

Isabelle tilted her head. "Which beach?" she asked, curious.

"First Beach in La Push," Mike replied with a grin. "La Push is the local reservation not too far from here. They let us use First Beach whenever as long as we don't make any messes and if we do, to clean it up."

Isabelle thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I'll go. Don't expect me to go into the water though," she warned with an amused look in her eyes. Mike just laughed and waved her goodbye as he went back to his friends to let them know. With a shake of her head, Isabelle continued to her truck and headed home so she could get a hunting trip in before Charlie got home. She didn't have to cook anything that night as he still had leftovers from the previous night.

She got home and immediately went into the house to put her bookbag down at the table before heading out the back door and into the woods. She let herself go then, letting her senses take over to find out what was near. She couldn't hunt too close to Forks as she didn't want the Cullens to start getting even more suspicious of her, so she headed north, up towards Canada and managed to find a few deer, a bear, and a mountain lion not too far from each other and it filled her up to the brim and she knew she would be fine for the next week or so and started to head back home, making sure her appearance was immaculate, just in case Charlie came home early.

As she broke through the tree line to her backyard, she didn't smell Charlie there, but she did get a huge whiff of Edward's scent at the back of the house where her bedroom was located. Knowing that he had been there very recently made her on her guard and she went into the house. Her nose wrinkled up at the strong scent and followed it up to her bedroom where it was concentrated the strongest. That pissed her off and when she opened the door, she noticed immediately that the window was open, letting her know that was how he had gotten inside the house as she knew she had kept the window closed that morning. She walked over to it and closed the window, latching it shut and making sure he wouldn't be able to come into her room again. As an afterthought, she also drew the curtains, blocking anyone's view of her.

That was just plain creepy, but she supposed that she couldn't exactly fault him for it, knowing that he was trying to get the scent of his singer. Knowing that it was time to sit down and try to figure things out, she sat on her bed cross-legged and closed her eyes, letting her body shut down for the time being and let her mind relax. It took several minutes before she could settle down enough for her brain to start connecting the dots.

When the illusion wasn't active, her scent had the typical sweet vampiric scent mixed with rosewood, strawberries, and a spice that she could never put her finger on. And when the illusion was active, it made her scent become more of what her human scent was, which was more flowery than her vampiric scent, according to Eleazar at least. The only thing that she could think of that explained how she had made herself Edward's singer was the fact that because the illusion covered her vampire scent and made it seem like it was as a human, had Edward met her human self, he would have had a much stronger reaction to her scent. She assumed that her human self had been his singer and it was only due to her illusion that he had a reaction to it now.

Suddenly hearing the crunching of tires on gravel, Isabelle snapped her eyes open and blinked as she noticed how dark it had gotten. She glanced at her phone and noticed that she had a text from Mike and Charlie. Opening up Charlie's first, she read that he was going to be later than normal as one of his deputies had gotten sick and he was covering his shift until they could get someone in. That was sent several hours ago and it was now almost 9. The text Mike had sent was just letting her know when and where to be for the beach visit that weekend. She sent a reply to him before getting off the bed and stretching. She heard the door open and Charlie's voice ring out for her, causing her to open her door and bounce down the stairs with a smile.

"Hey dad!" she said brightly. "How was work?" she then asked as she kissed him on his cheek before heading into the kitchen and fixing a bowl of food for his dinner.

"It was okay. Jackson got sick, as I told you earlier, and so I had to cover his shift until someone could come in," Charlie replied, unholstering his gun and unloading it before setting it down with his work attire.

"Yeah, I saw the text not too long ago. Sorry I didn't respond. I was taking a nap," she called to him as the microwave beeped and she pulled his bowl out before setting it on the table for him.

"You're fine, Bells," he chuckled as he entered the kitchen and sat down with a sigh. "I will be gone this weekend, though, since Jackson is out now. Most of the others not working had plans this weekend."

She smiled as she leaned against the counter. "That's fine. Mike Newton invited me to go to the beach in La Push with some of our friends this weekend," she said before pulling out her phone when it buzzed. She blinked when she saw that it was Edward, wondering how he got her phone number and how he was in her contacts already.

 **I won't be in school tomorrow. Wanted to let you know. - Edward**

She shook her head slightly before shooting a text back.

 **Okay… How did you get my number?**

She slipped her phone back in her pocket before glancing back at Charlie who was looking at her with a curious look on his face. "What?" she questioned tilting her head.

He smiled and shook his head. "You look good, Bells. I'm glad you came up here," he answered and a pang hit the space where her heart was. She felt a little guilty that he didn't actually have a daughter and that she had made him think that she did, but it was necessary.

"I am too, dad," she replied with a smile before straightening. "I'm going to my room and finishing up some homework before heading to bed. You need anything?" she asked, grabbing her bag as he shook his head.

"Night, kiddo."

"Night, dad." She went up to her room and set her bag on the bed before fishing her phone back out of her pocket to read the message Edward sent her.

 **Got it from Jessica. Told her we had plans to meet up, but forgot to get your number.**

Isabelle stared at her phone in shock.

 **Alrighty, so there it is! The long awaited chapter! Now we know how her scent is causing her to still be Edward's singer! It took me awhile to figure out the right way to word it and as I said, this chapter is unbeta-ed, so if something doesn't make sense, please PLEASE tell me so that I can either fix it in the chapter or address it at the beginning of the next chapter.**

 **Also, the updates for this story are going to be slowing down quite a bit. I only have up to chapter 12 written at the moment and haven't really had the time to sit down and write out chapters. As I've stated earlier in the story, my beta and I did hash out the plot of the story (something that was a little past due) until roughly the "end of the story-ish" and it's looking to be a long one! But I am in the process of trying to switch jobs and I'm also going to be moving apartments soon, updates are going to be sporadic at worst and at best, maybe once every two or three weeks until I get more chapters written out and can bump up the update time.**

 **Anyway, thank you for sticking with me so far. You, my reader, are the reason why I continue to write. If it weren't for you, I would have quit long ago. I've had this story in the works for over 5 years and I am glad that I have finally been able to write it out and I get my inspiration from you.**

 **Don't forget to review for a sneak peak at the next chapter (I promise that I will actually send them out this time). Until next time, see you later!**

 **Katie**


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